Editor’s Note: The Valley Voice would like to issue a correction.
In the December 16 article The Valley Voice stated, “Neither Randy nor Keri Santos can request compensation for the grief caused by the district’s mistake.”
This statement is incorrect. The Valley Voice based their statement on Tulare Public Cemetery District form that the Santos siblings signed before the disinterment took place.
The form states, “Undersigned, on behalf of himself or herself represents that they have disclosed all persons that are the next of kin to the cemetery and agrees to release, indemnify and hold harmless Funeral Home, Cemetery, Vault Company, and agents, employees, and parent and successor companies, from any liability, including reasonable attorney’s fees, for any and all distress, illness, psychological injury and any damages resulting from viewing the Procedure.”
By signing the form the Santos cannot sue for any distress caused by the disinterment, but they can still sue the district for burying their mother in the incorrect grave.
The Valley Voice apologizes for their mistake.
The Valley Voice also stated, “The siblings had to sign a release before their mother would be put in the correct grave in time for their father’s burial.”
Tulare Public Cemetery District Chair Xavier Avila has stated several times that this is incorrect. Neither he, nor county counsel, nor the other board members have given any clarity on if the Santos’ mother would have been disinterred if her children had not signed the form.
The Valley Voice will publish a correction as soon as we receive clarification.
The Valley Voice also made a statement that Trustee Charlie Ramos felt was misleading.
“The cemetery’s former manager, Leonor Castaneda, came under fire from one trustee, Charlie Ramos, in a Tulare Police report, claiming that fraudulent disinterment documents had been created to disinter Justiniana Jacinto and Silvano Martinez on March 8, 2021. Castaneda in turn implicated Avila as also involved in the mishandling of the double disinterment.”
Ramos did not go to the Tulare Police of his own accord, but was appointed by the board to go to the Tulare Police Department after the board voted to hand information over to the police concerning Castaneda’s mishandling of several burials
The Valley Voice apologizes for any distress caused by our statements.
The Valley Voice was waiting to publish any corrections until after receiving the letter from TPCD formally requesting a retraction, which is protocol. During TPCD Special Meeting on December 21 Chair Avila stated after returning from an emergency closed session, “I am going to ask that the Valley Voice retract and correct their article.”
It should be noted that the TPCD minutes of the December 21 meeting submitted in today’s agenda packet misquote Avila.
During today’s TPCD meeting Avila indicated no letter would be forth coming because he posted his complaints on facebook.
It is the Valley Voice’s policy to issue corrections whenever the paper has published erroneous statements.
During the December 2 regular Tulare Public Cemetery District meeting it was inadvertently revealed that another disinterment occurred on September 18, 2021.
The disinterment was discovered during a discussion about the September financials concerning a check for $5,000 to Peers-Lorentzen Funeral Home.
This is the twelfth disinterment at Tulare Cemetery of which the Valley Voice is aware.
On April 20, 2018, Edwina Lea Santos was buried in the “wrong grave at time of burial” according to a document provided by Tulare County Counsel to Trustee Alberto Aguilar.
The mistaken burial was discovered when her husband, Gary Santos, died September 3 of this year and was scheduled to be buried alongside his wife September 20.
Though disinterments have become more common at the Tulare Cemetery, several aspects of the current disinterment made it newsworthy.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21158040-tulare-cemetery-santos-disinterment#document/p2/a2070592
While opening the grave, the backhoe damaged the vault and the casket, requiring the remains to be moved to a new casket.
The incident was recorded on a form that has not previously been seen. The “Application for Disinterment for Human Remains and Authorization and Release Agreement” required the family to “release, indemnify and hold harmless” the cemetery, funeral home, and vault company from “any liability” from any distress, illness, psychological injury or damages that resulted from viewing the disinterment.
Agreeing to the conditions was a prerequisite to move the body to its correct resting place, and written permission is required for disinterments under California law.
The cemetery’s former manager, Leonor Castaneda, came under fire from one trustee, Charlie Ramos, in a Tulare Police report, claiming that fraudulent disinterment documents had been created to disinter Justiniana Jacinto and Silvano Martinez on March 8, 2021. Castaneda in turn implicated Avila as also involved in the mishandling of the double disinterment.
According to California law it is a felony not to get written permission before disinterring a body.
Under Cloak of Darkness
In April of 2018, Ms. Santos was mistakenly buried in row X in a plot owned by TPCD instead of Row W where her family plot was located.
The disinterment, and then reinterment, of Ms. Santos into the correct plot was arranged to take place at 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning, a curious schedule seeing as it is still dark and the district would have to pay time and a half for four TPCD employees.
Present that morning were three groundskeepers, office manager Clara Bernardo, funeral director of Peers-Lorentzen Richard Mendivil, and Ms. Santos’ two adult children.
The procedure was supposed to be done by 10 a.m., but during the excavation the vault and casket were damaged to such a degree they needed to be replaced. In response, Mendivil summoned a hearse to collect the broken casket with Ms. Santos’ remains and transport them to the funeral home.
According to the bill submitted to TPCD, Peers-Lorentzen needed to “remove decomposed body from original casket and place in new casket, disinfect house equipment, disinfect Hearse,” and “dispose of casket deceased was in.”
TPCD had to pay Peers-Lorentzen $4,500 for the new casket and $500 for labor. This was in addition to the district paying time and a half to the four TPCD staff members, which added up to more than $1,000.
Randy Santos stayed until his mother’s body was reinterred and the procedure finished at 1 p.m.
Neither Randy nor Keri Santos can request compensation for the grief caused by the district’s mistake. The siblings had to sign a release before their mother would be put in the correct grave in time for their father’s burial.
The form states, “Undersigned, on behalf of himself or herself represents that they have disclosed all persons that are the next of kin to the cemetery and agrees to release, indemnify and hold harmless Funeral Home, Cemetery, Vault Company, and agents, employees, and parent and successor companies, from any liability, including reasonable attorney’s fees, for any and all distress, illness, psychological injury and any damages resulting from viewing the Procedure.”
Randy Santos did not appear to be aware that there had been 11 previous disinterments at the Tulare Cemetery but said that Peers-Lorentzen were very professional during the procedure. Santos did not want to comment further for this article.
According to Geneva Philpot, a Visalia Cemetery trustee, the Visalia Cemetery has had four disinterments over the last five years, and not necessarily due to mistakes made by the district, but requested by the families.
The Santos’ inability to collect a settlement is further evidence that written permission before disinterring a body has not been obtained in the past. The district has paid out tens of thousands of dollars in settlements to grieving families of disinterred loved ones indicating no release form or written permission was obtained.
Not disclosed to the public
Prior to the December 2 TPCD general meeting, neither the public nor Aguilar was aware of the disinterment.
During the review of TPCD September financials Aguilar asked why the district paid Peers-Lorentzen $5,000.
Bernardo responded, “It was for a disinterment.”
Aguilar expressed surprise replying, “We had another disinterment?” To which Linda Maloy, member of the audit committee, responded from the audience, “You knew about it, Alberto.”
Avila also insisted several times that Aguilar was aware of the disinterment.
“I’m informing you. You were informed about it,” Avila said.
Avila said that the board had a closed session meeting about the disinterment and implied Aguilar was present. If that was the case, why Maloy was privy to information discussed during a closed session was not explained. Avila also did not explain why the disinterment was not reported after the closed session.
Aguilar was also not informed of the March 8 double disinterment and was only made aware by the media. This is despite Section 9069.10 of the Health and Safety Code, which states, “An interment right does not include the right for disinterment of human remains except on consent of the cemetery district and the written consent of the surviving spouse, child, patent, or sibling, in that order of priority.”
According to Aguilar the decision to do the double disinterment “was solely made by TPCD Chair Xavier Avila and Cemetery Manager Leonor Castaneda.”
Verification Committee
Alex Gutierrez, a Tulare activist, asked about the status of the Verification Committee formed in April of this year to prevent bodies being buried in the wrong grave.
Gutierrez added that according to the district website the committee had only met once in July.
Maloy said this disinterment “happened a long time ago” and wasn’t brought up by the committee because the mistake was made in 2018. She said that when they have their next meeting “this will be one of the items they look at.”
Ms. Santos was in fact buried in the wrong grave under Castaneda’s tenure as manager. Contemporaneously, Avila and Trustee Steve Presant were praising her excellent job performance.
In April, she was allowed to retire with a $5,000 severance package, though mistakes and settlements from her tenure cost the district through settlements.
Members of the public and two trustees repeatedly sounded alarms regarding Castaneda’s performance. Those alarms were ignored by the majority of the board.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21158040-tulare-cemetery-santos-disintermen