Multiple delays in the process of dealing with Cedar Ridge Cemetery created frustration for law enforcement and those who own plots.
Sheriff Butch Reece recalled that frustration following the recent purchase of the cemetery, which was ultimately placed in receivership by the state in 2021. The cemetery was purchased July 24 by Scott Walston, who is also the owner of Gray Memorial Chapel.
The good news is Walston has vowed to recognize plots purchased under the name of Cedar Ridge Cemetery as long as the owners have a bill of sale or deed to the properties.
Reece said the state was not helpful when the investigation was ordered into the handling of the preneed escrow accounts at Bridges Funeral Home in February of 2019.
“The state of Georgia did not do its job. It was hard to get them to work with us,” he said. “They are to blame for people losing their money.”
Reece said the Georgia Secretary of State’s office let the problem of the preneed accounts continue for years before the sheriff’s office could get involved.
“All of them just blamed someone else,” the sheriff said.
He said it was Sen. Rick Williams, who was a state representative at the time and is now a state senator, who worked with his office and investigators.
Reece’s opinion is backed up by court records that show motions by the Secretary of State’s office beginning in April of 2007, citing violations of the Georgia Cemetery and Funeral Services Act of 2000.
Karen Handel was secretary of state at the time of the motions.
That first motion states owner Jerry Bridges Sr. was notified about the Cedar Ridge violations June 28, 2005. The cemetery’s registration renewal as a perpetual care/preneed cemetery was not received.
The document states “despite being sent an expiration notice Oct. 13, 2005, Cedar Ridge continued to offer for sale and to sell cemetery burial rights and offer for sale and to sell preneed burial services in Georgia.”
The motion states Cedar Ridge failed to file annual reports concerning its perpetual care trust fund and its preneed escrow account for the years of 2000-05.
An administrative order by Handel ordered Bridges to pay a $25,000 civil penalty in 10 days. Subsequent motions show no evidence the penalty was ever paid or pursued.
Another similar motion was filed against Cedar Ridge Cemetery by the state in June of 2007, and a contempt motion was filed in September of 2007.
Additional contempt motions were filed in October of 2008 and May of 2009.
An order dated Dec. 2, 2009, stated there would be a hearing Dec. 14, 2009, but no resolution to the hearing was found in court records.
It appears the lack of follow through by the state is the reason the sale of the preneed accounts continued, which resulted in losses by many who thought they had taken care of their final expenses.
The investigation of the preneed accounts at Bridges Funeral Home and Bridges started in February of 2019. That investigation was ordered by Magistrate Judge Lewis Patterson following a hearing in the court involving a family having difficulty with a preneed account for a family member.
Bridges served as coroner for Jones County since 1993 and owned Bridges Funeral Home in Gray since 1984. Patterson ordered an investigation that included funeral home files being turned over to the sheriff’s department.
The investigation by the Jones County Sheriff’s Office resulted in Bridges’ June 4, 2019, arrest for 22 counts of theft by conversion and two counts of misappropriation of preneed escrow accounts.
Bridges was indicted Oct. 8, 2019, for 44 counts of theft by conversion in connection with money that was given him in his capacity of funeral director at the funeral home for preneed burial accounts. The amount of money listed on the indictments totaled over $218,000.
Each count of the indictment contained the name of a victim and the amount of money that was supposed to be in their burial accounts. Those amounts varied from as low as $785 to as high as $18,000.
At age 77, the former coroner entered a guilty plea Nov. 19, 2020, to 43 counts of theft by conversion. Nine of those counts were misdemeanors, and 33 were felonies.
Bridges was sentenced Dec. 10, 2020, to a total of 20 years with the first five years to serve in prison.
Information from the JCSO stated Bridges was released from prison in January, and his parole will end in December.
He will continue to serve the remainder of his sentence on probation.
