Ex-mortuary owner jailed for withholding death benefits

HONOLULU (AP) — A former Honolulu mortuary owner accused of withholding funeral reimbursements for people in Medicaid-funded state assistance programs has been sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Claus Hansen was sentenced Tuesday and has been ordered to pay $50,000 to Hawaii’s crime victim fund, KHON-TV reported (https://bit.ly/1NBTKXH).

Hansen pleaded guilty in October to seven counts of felony theft for failing to distribute death benefits to family members. He had originally been charged with 20 counts of theft, three counts of money laundering and six counts of racketeering.

The state Medicaid program had paid survivors as much as $800 in death benefits to help fund funeral costs.

“Customers were promised refunds once the State Medicaid program paid benefits to Hansen,” said Deputy Attorney General Michael Parrish. “Instead, Hansen instructed his employees not to contact the survivors when the money came in or to ignore them if they didn’t pester the mortuary for their promised refund.”

Officials said Hansen’s bank statements indicated he failed to pay as many as 161 beneficiaries totaling more than $90,000 from April 2009 to May 2013. Hansen has already paid most of the money back.

“I respectfully accept the responsibility for these actions that I’ve done and I’d like to take this time to express my heartfelt apology to the court and to my customers for not processing refunds in a timely manner,” Hansen said in court Tuesday.

Since Hansen’s case, the Department of Human Services Med-Quest Division has amended its Funeral Payments Program to no longer filter reimbursements through service providers.

Hansen sold the Honolulu Mortuary and Casket Company in November.