DETROIT – Sam Tocco, a longtime cemetery manager in Metro Detroit, is on trial as the state seeks to shut down his operations due to numerous violations.
Tocco’s cemetery career has spanned more than 20 years. He either owned or managed five different Metro Detroit cemeteries.
Tocco first came to our attention when we learned dozens of Detroit families said their loved ones’ bodies or headstones were moved or missing from Gethsemane, which Tocco managed for the City of Detroit for several years.
Monday’s administrative trial was about another Detroit cemetery, Trinity Cemetery on the city’s east side.
The state said it’s had enough of how the cemetery is run and wants to force Tocco to sell it.
Tocco paid $300,000 for Trinity Cemetery back in 2017 and the state claims he operated it without state-required registration for four years.
Officials claim that at one point a man was buried there on top of an unrelated woman’s gravesite. Once the mistake was found by the family, the body was moved but without a permit -- another violation.
State officials said due to Tocco’s current and past cemetery violations, he lacks integrity and should not be managing Trinity Cemetery and wants to force him to sell.
Tocco’s company also managed Gethsemane Cemetery in Detroit from about 2013 to 2020. Dozens of Detroit said their loved ones’ bodies or headstones were moved or went missing during the years Tocco’s company was managing the cemetery.
Testimony on Monday centered around problems at another Tocco cemetery, Knollwood Memorial Park in Canton. Tocco took over management of Knollwood from his grandfather in 2004. The state claims hundreds of thousands of dollars were missing from Knollwood accounts in violation of state cemetery law. Tocco blamed his late grandfather for all the problems at Knollwood.