Missing cremains, forged receipts, misuse of city funds: Charges pile up in Fruitland Park
FRUITLAND PARK — Fruitland Park's human resources director has been arrested and charged with grand theft, forgery and disturbing the contents of a grave or tomb.
An arrest affidavit alleges Jabari Hopkins, 31, stole nearly $3,000 from the city in the form of tuition reimbursements, car washes, oil changes, gas, kids shoes, clothing, accessories and more.
Hopkins also sold niches – wall vaults for human cremains – at the Shiloh Cemetery, the affidavit states. But payments were made directly to Hopkins instead of the city.
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One of the niches Hopkins sold, Niche No. 16, had already been sold and was in use. According to the arrest affidavit, Hopkins said he moved those cremains to another niche, Niche No. 22, but when police checked it, it was empty.
The cremains originally in Niche No. 16 have still not been found.
Hopkins was arrested Monday and booked into jail with bail set at $15,000. He has since bonded out.
Finance department raised red flags over suspicious payments
City officials contacted the Fruitland Park Police Department in late January, alerting them of Hopkins' suspicious spending activity.
In total, investigators determined that Hopkins had spent $2,823 on his city-issued credit card for 19 personal purchases, which included:
$95 for an oil change on a personal vehicle
A $45 Macy's purchase in Atlanta
A $69 Macy's purchase in Washington, D.C.
A $79 purchase for two pairs of kids shoes at Rack Room Shoes
$6 for two belts at Ross in Mount Dora
$2,000 in payments to Florida Memorial University
When Finance Director Jeannine Racine discovered the payments to FMU, she confronted Hopkins, according to the affidavit. He said they were for tuition reimbursement for classes related to his job.
"Being that this was not the common procedure for tuition reimbursement, Jeannine asked Jabari to pull up his student account online and provide proof of the courses he was enrolled in, and subsequently was unable to show her proof of the courses or payments," the affidavit says. "Jeannine said at that time Jabari became loud and argumentative, but subsequently was unable to show her proof of the courses or payments."
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Later, Hopkins provided Racine with a receipt, which she thought was forged. An FMU employee later confirmed it was fraudulent, according to the affidavit.
What about those missing cremains?
Investigators also discovered that Hopkins had been selling niches, the affidavit said.
On Jan. 31, Fruitland Park Code Enforcement Officer Lori Davis got an email from Southern Monuments Studio, a city vendor, explaining that one of its employees had been at the Shiloh Cemetery measuring a plaque for niche No. 16.
When the employee opened the niche, "he noticed that the cremains in the niche had a different name on the urn than what was on the engraving invoice," according to the affidavit.
Davis found an incomplete niche certificate for a Frank Antonuccio Sr. on Hopkins' desk and noticed that the corresponding niches — Nos. 15 and 16 — had already been sold.
Niche No. 16 was sold in May 2021.
Davis asked the finance department to check its records for a niche purchase from Frank Antonuccio Jr., and was able to confirm "there were no records of any payment for Mr. Antonuccio for the niche."
When Davis contacted Antonuccio Jr., he provided her with a receipt that Hopkins gave him. It didn't look like a city-issued receipt, the affidavit states. Instead, it resembled the forged FMU receipt.
When investigators checked niche No. 16, it was empty. Hopkins said he moved the cremains to a vacant niche; however, investigators opened each vacant niche and canvassed the cemetery on foot. The cremains have yet to be found.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Fruitland Park, Florida HR director accused of disturbing cremains
