LAWRENCE, Mass. -- A local funeral director is accused of pressuring a grieving mother to pay additional money for services her deceased son never received.
Viviana Resto turned to Diaz-Healy Funeral Home for her 11-year-old son's funeral services. Manny Diaz agreed to charge her $1,500 in total for the services, a sum that Resto could just barely afford.
After the funeral was over and Resto's son was buried, Diaz demanded she pay more money after he learned she received $8,000 in insurance money for her son's death.
He made phone calls to her home and showed up with an $11,751 bill in hand. The bill, which police say was fake, included services Resto's son never received including a $3,980 headstone monument that was never put on the grave.
Diaz faced charges of forgery, larceny, and insurance fraud in Lawrence District Court. If convicted, he could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison.
Resto has since removed her son from the cemetery and buried him in Puerto Rico where their family is from.
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