The former treasurer and president of the Thornton Union Cemetery has been charged with fraud involving the very cemetery where he worked.
Neil Webb is accused of stealing more than $175,000 from the volunteer-run organization in Thornton.
It is alleged, Webb stole the funds over a five-year period from the cemetery’s trust fund.
Webb was a former volunteer firefighter in Essa Township until five years ago, and it’s around that time that the current cemetery board believes Webb’s fraud began.
“The funds are gone.  It’s devastating,” said Doreen Wilton, Thornton Union Cemetery operating manager.
The Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO) which oversees the more than 5,100 cemeteries in the province was looking for missing documents from Thornton Union Cemetery, including an account of burials performed and expenses incurred.  It was during this time that the BAO noticed something was wrong.
Wilton says the cemetery is now in serious financial need.
“It’s been 150 years of families buried, and to know that I have no funds available to be able to take care and maintain this cemetery… it’s going to be very hard for this community.”
Wilton says the cemetery will need to fundraise in hopes of making some of the money back.
Webb is scheduled to appear in a Bradford court on September 13.