May.21, 2010

Money-laundering charges against funeral home director Bernard Mitchell are most likely not connected to his role as former chairman of the Sanford Housing Authority, officials with the financially troubled agency said Friday.

Mitchell was arrested Thursday amid accusations related to his work at Wilson-Eichelberger Mortuary in Sanford and as treasurer of the Florida Morticians Association. State authorities allege that while selling cemetery plots and funeral contracts, he did not deposit funds in a state escrow account as required by law and instead laundered money through the morticians association. Mitchell began working for that funeral home when he was 13 and quit last October, according to arrest documents. He is accused of stealing more than $100,000.

Mitchell, 59, was booked into the Seminole County Jail on charges of money laundering, fraud and failing to make a required deposit on a pre-need funeral contract.