Unlicensed Kentucky facility allegedly performed more than 300 cremations, AG says

Authorities have shut down a Kentucky facility that was allegedly performing cremations without a license.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced Tuesday that his office had obtained a temporary restraining order for the Cloverport Funeral Home to stop doing cremations.

The funeral home allegedly had done more than 300 cremations since April 2023, according to a release from Coleman’s office.

The funeral home is on Main Street in Cloverport, a town of about 1,200 on the Ohio River in Breckinridge County.

The Cloverport Police Department assisted in the investigation that led to the court action.

Chris Woosley, chief of police, said his department did not receive any information that the funeral home was doing cremations incorrectly.

It was doing cremations without a license, however, and that is a violation of the state’s consumer protection law, Coleman’s office argued in court documents.

Coleman’s office said in a court motion that the funeral home and owner had made “unfair, false, misleading, and deceptive” representations in advertising cremation services because the facility was not licensed to offer those services.

In the absence of an order to shut down the crematorium, consumers would suffer harm because they would be misled into believing the facility was legally allowed to perform cremations, Coleman’s office argued.

Circuit Judge Bruce T. Butler granted the restraining order against the funeral home; Anthony Oxendine; and Kentuckiana Funeral Services LLC.

The order bars the funeral home from conducting cremations at its Main Street facility; advertising or soliciting any business related to cremations in Kentucky; entering new contracts to perform cremations; and disposing of any documents relevant to the case.

The funeral home had information about cremation on its web site Wednesday.

Woosley said the funeral home can continue other operations under the order.

No one from the funeral home returned a call from the Herald-Leader seeking comment.

People have increasingly chosen cremation in recent years in Kentucky and across the nation for a number of reasons, including that it is cheaper than traditional burial.

The rate of cremation in Kentucky increased from 12.3% in 2011 to 40.3% in 2022.