Former north Dayton funeral home owner facing felony charges [Dayton Daily News, Ohio]

Oct. 09--DAYTON -- Michelle Gavin, co-owner of the Magetti Gavin Funeral Home, is scheduled to appear in court today after being charged with four felonies related to her alleged mismanagement of prepaid funeral service contracts.

Gavin, 45, of Brookville, was indicted in September on theft of an elderly or disabled adult, grand theft, four counts of insurance fraud and and five counts of violation of preneeds contracts, following a Montgomery County Prosecutor's investigation.

County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck Jr. declined to comment because the case already is in the court system, according to Greg Flannagan, Heck's spokesman.

Gavin, who has not been arrested, entered a not guilty plea on Sept. 28. She is scheduled to appear in front of Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis Adkins for a scheduling conference today.

Gavin is accused of commiting the crimes between March of 1997 and March of this year.

The funeral home, 1508 Valley St., closed earlier this year after Gavin and her husband Hugh Gavin surrendered both their embalmers and funeral directors' licenses, in addition to the funeral home's license, in March.

"It's an unusual case in my experience. A lot of money involved and a lot of other issues involved that need time to work themselves out," said Michelle Gavin's attorney Jim Ambrose.

He went on to say that Michelle Gavin has "a tremendous amount of remorse and is trying to figure out how it got this far."

Gavin was indicted nearly two weeks after former funeral home director Scherrie McLin was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing approximately $200,000 in prepaid funeral contract money. McLin owned the now closed McLin Funeral Home at 2801 N. Gettysburg Ave.

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