Poway mortuary on probation following investigation

The former director of the Poway-Bernardo Mortuary has surrendered his licenses to the state to settle allegations he illegally paid an embalmer “under the table” to prepare bodies for burial.

Richard Kent Sadler, who was featured on a now-defunct cable television show featuring the Poway-based business and its employees, has had his embalming and funeral director licenses revoked.

The mortuary, at 13243 Poway Road, has been placed on a three-year probation, according to an agreement between owner Carl Comer and the state Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA).

During that time, the mortuary will have to prepare quarterly reports to ensure it is complying with the terms of probation.

“Basically, if we discover any further problems, their license can be revoked,” said Kevin Flanagan, spokesman for the DCA.

The business must also pay $2,000 for the investigation and complete an ethics course within the first year of probation.

Flanagan said the probation was issued because the investigation determined Comer was not directly involved in the illegal activity.

“Mr. Sadler was in charge of the day-to-day operations,” Flanagan said.

In a phone interview Friday, Comer said the company would comply with the order, even though he disputed the state’s position.

“I think that what we’re talking about is about a piece of paper,” Comer said. “The guy that was embalming here had a licence, but it wasn’t in the state.”

Comer praised Sadler’s performance, saying he did a “great job” for most of his tenure at the mortuary until his last year, when several things popped up.

Comer said Sadler was “let go” in March.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is water under the bridge,” he said.

Flanagan said license revocation was the maximum penalty Sadler and the mortuary faced had the cases moved forward through the process, which would have been handled by an administrative law judge.

According to the complaint, which was filed in April, an investigation by the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau began after an employee accused Saddler of letting a person without a California license embalm remains.

The complaints said an investigator who turned up at the mortuary to check out the allegations found a man named Timothy Meister wearing a blood-splattered plastic apron and a partially dressed corpse on the preparation table.

According to the complaint, Sadler took credit for that embalming procedure, though Meister — who at first denied taking part in the preparation of the remains — eventually took credit for preparing two bodies.

The complaint went on to note that staff had said Meister — who had a New York embalming license but not one from California — had prepared up to 40 bodies, and that Sadler paid him $100 apiece for each.

State law prohibits a person unlicensed in the state to embalm a body, or for funeral directors to let an unlicensed person embalm.

The complaint said Sadler told employees to put down his initials on death certificates that Meister had embalmed.

An attorney for Sadler said they did not have a comment.