A California Department of Insurance (CDI) investigation found that the former owner of Valley Funeral Home in Murrieta sold “pre-need” burial insurance plans to senior citizens, including residents of area nursing homes, then pocketed the premiums and left her elderly clients without funeral coverage.

Lee Ann Wyskiver, 55, was arrested at her home on April 5, 2007, by CDI investigators and the Escondido, Calif., Police Department. Wyskiver is charged with six felony counts including grand theft and financial elder abuse. She was booked into the Escondido jail, and bail was set at $50,000.

Wyskiver pleaded not guilty at her arraignment April 11 and is set for a preliminary hearing Tuesday at the Murrieta Courthouse. The Riverside County District Attorney’s office is prosecuting the case.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner called Wyskiver’s actions “despicable.”

“The suspect specifically targeted senior citizens who were in nursing homes, swindling them out of hard-earned funds earmarked for a funeral with dignity and respect which wouldn’t burden their families,” said Poizner. “We don’t know how many other victims may still be out there. Therefore, I urge families who have loved ones that dealt with Ms. Wyskiver to contact the Department of Insurance.”

According to investigators, Wyskiver collected nearly $20,000 from several elderly clients who thought they were purchasing a pre-need burial insurance policy. Pre-need or pre-paid burial insurance is a specialized form of life insurance or annuity used to fund the predetermined expenses of a funeral, cremation or burial. In some instances, the consumer was charged an additional fee to add an offered travel benefits.

Wyskiver allegedly had her elderly clients complete life insurance applications for the requested coverage and collected the quoted insurance premium. She then led each client to believe that their policies had been placed with either Forethought Life Insurance Co. or Homesteader Life Insurance Co.

After receiving numerous complaints against Wyskiver’s funeral home, the California Department of Consumers Affairs, Cemetery and Funeral Bureau initiated an investigation in 2005 and concluded that Wyskiver had committed gross acts of negligence and fraud, and revoked her license to operate a funeral home. Valley Funeral Home went out of business but failed to notify the clients.

Russ Heimerich, with the California Department of Consumer Affairs, told news agencies that complaints to his office about Wyskiver’s business included not having a body ready for a funeral, not returning a pacemaker, not providing death certificates and not handing over cremated remains to a family.

According to documents made public by consumer affairs, there were complaints of decomposition of bodies because they were not turned over to other funeral homes in a timely manner when family members decided against using Valley Funeral Home.

In Nov. 2005, the same establishment opened as Murrieta Valley Funeral and currently operates under new ownership and management. It was through the new owner that the clients discovered they actually did not have the insurance policy they thought they’d purchased.

Potential victims are being urged to call CDI.

Don’t let the patriotic name fool you. At least three states have issued cease and desist orders to the NFOA and its “president,” Richard Olive. This outfit apparently is more about ripping off consumers than charity - and its doing it all accross the country, from sea to shining sea.

According to press releases from the Missouri and Iowa Insurance Commissioners, NFOA is posing as a chartible organization, when it is nothing of the sort. The company pushes an annuity product to consumer by convincing them to replace existing annuities or cash value life insurance policies with something it calls a “tax-deductible installment plan.”

“What’s that?” you ask. Good question.

According to NFOA’s website, “the Installment Plan is a contract that pays out for a guaranteed number of years regardless of age, can have an unlimited number of beneficiaries on a single contract, and is defined in general in § 453 of the Internal Revenue Code.” NFOA promises that the plan will produce guaranteed income each year while lowering taxable income by up to 50 percent.

Just a few problems with this:

– According to the IRS, the NFOA is NOT a tax exempt charitable organization under IRS Code § 501(c)(3).
– NFOA is NOT an insurance company licensed in the states where it does business.
– § 453 of the IRS Code has NOTHING to do with NFOA’s “installment plans” - this section deals solely with the installment method of accounting for income tax purposes.

Based on the cease and desist orders issued against NFOA, the scam works like this: NFOA agents somehow convince consumers to transfer ownership of their annuity or cash value life policy to NFOA. On the change of ownership form, the consumer must designate that the transfer is a “gift” to NFOA.

In exchange for the annuity, NFOA issues their “installment contract,” which promises a safe stream of payouts and a generous tax deduction that supposedly can be used to reduce the consumer’s adjusted gross income by up to 50%. NFOA then cashes out all or party of the policy and starts making payments under the installment contract. Things probably seem okay to consumers at first, but there’s a huge problem.

When you cash out an annuity, there are going to be surrender charges - often 10% or more of the value of the policy. Add to that the commissions Olive and NFOA must be paying to agents to push this crap, and they’re going to in the hole by 15-20% or more before the first payment is made. Unless Olive is some sort of investment genius, there’s no way he can earn enough to pay off the full policy values as promised. The whole thing amounts to one big kiting scheme, but using annuities, rather than checks.

When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. And NFOA is no exception. Watch out for this scam and others like it, and keep your eye on this site for more infomation as it develops.

In you’re interested in reading more, the cease and desist order from the Iowa Insurance Commissioner is here.