LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A former funeral home worker pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges after admitting to defrauding a Georgetown charity out of $11,929 over more than a year.
Ronald Woolfolk Jr., a licensed mortician apprentice, submitted more than 20 fraudulent requests for funding to a nonprofit organization that assists families with funeral expenses for children who died unexpectedly.
According to court documents, Woolfolk created fictitious funeral expense invoices, cremation certificates and letters using his employer’s letterhead between August 2022 and October 2023. He used the funeral home’s official email address to submit the false claims, then deleted the emails immediately after sending them.
Scheme involved identity theft
Woolfolk used the names and personal information of real deceased children and their family members in his fraudulent applications. The victims included a 19-year-old homicide victim, a one-year-old baby, a 23-minute-old infant, and a 9-month-old homicide victim.
The funeral home had provided services to some of these families free of charge as community service. Woolfolk stole the victims’ identifying information without the funeral home’s knowledge or permission…