- STATE OF FLORIDA epi iL i 3 DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION: ee : 00 JUL -6 PH 2: 15 DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION, ay SION oF Fo : ADMINS TRS Me Petitioner, HEARIH HGS vs. . Case Number 98-21656 | 00-4977 FL REBECCA BUTLER, also known as (a/k/a/) . Clifstonia Butler, a/k/a/ Clifstonia Rebecca Mae Hills, - afk/al Clifstonia Rebecca Mae Hills Butler, a/k/a/ Mae Hills, alk/a/ Clifstonia Rebecca Butler (hereafter Butler or Respondent), / a ae Respondent. ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLAINT - The DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION, (Petitioner), files this Administrative Complaint against the Respondent, Butler, and says: 1. The Petitioner is the state agency charged with regulating the operation 7 of funeral directors pursuant to Section 20.165, Florida Statutes, and Chapters 455 and 470, Florida Statutes, and with regulating and/or disciplining unlicensed persons who perform activities that require licensure as a funeral director pursuant | tg Chapters 455 and/or 470, Florida Statutes, to lawfully perform. ‘ ata 2. The Respondent is, and has been at all times material hereto, the owner of a licensed funeral establishment in the State of Florida, Calvin Butler Jr. Memorial Funeral Home, which has a current funeral establishment license, license number FH 0001941. Le] . oy. 3. Atall times material hereto, Esther Ajao was the licensed funeral director and embalmer in charge of the Respondent, and Ajao was licensed pursuant to license auniber : FE 0003462. 4, Calvin Butler Memorial Funeral Home (hereafter Calvin Butler Memorial) is _ located at 9801 N. wW. 7 Avenue, Miami, Dade County, Florida 33147, and this is the last known address of the Respondent. 5. The Respondent was identified in Calvin Butler Memorial's application for licensure as a funeral establishment as the owner and/or the administrator of the Respondent, however at no time material hereto was the Respondent licensed as a funeral director, or in any capacity pursuant to Chapter 470, Florida Statutes. 6. On or about October 9, 1998, Mr. RS. Pritchett Sr., (decedent) died at the Miami Veterans Administration medical center, and his widow, Emma Pritchett, signed a written authorization that designated Calvin Butler Memorial as the funeral home designated to take charge of funeral arrangements for the decedent. 7. Mrs. Pritchett authorized the release and removal of the decedent's: remains to Calvin Butler Memorial for the purpose of embalming, in her capacity as the decedent's next of Kin On the evening of October 9, 1998, Mts. Pritchett and her relatives Alice Bethel and Yolanda Ferguson, went to Calvin Butler Memorial to make arrangements for the decedent's embalming, funeral services, and subsequent transfer to Alabama for burial. 9. During the course of making the arrangements on October 9, 1999, Mrs. Pritchett dealt solely with the Respondent. 10. The Respondent performed the services of a funeral director by performing Ww we) the following acts: discussing prices for the funeral arrangements, displaying the caskets ate: and explaining their costs, arranging time and location of the local funeral services, entering into an agreement to provide chairs, a memorial book and a podium to Mrs. Pritchett's residence to accommodate relatives who would be visiting the residence, and/or quoting Mrs. Pritchett a price of $4,000.00 as the cost for the funeral arrangements. 11. Ms. Ajoa was not present at that meeting, nor did Mrs. Pritchett have any discussions regarding the funeral arrangements with anyone other than the Respondent. 12. After the Respondent failed to deliver the chairs, podium, and memorial book to Mrs. Pritchett's residence, Mrs. Pritchett and/or her daughter Alice Bethel, made repeated calls to Calvin Butler Memorial. 13. After her calls were not returned between October 10, 1998, and October 11, 1998, Mrs. Pritchett decided that she did not want to have the funeral arrangements handled by Calvin Butler Memorial. She and/or Ms. Bethel left a message at Calvin Butler Memorial for the Respondent, informing her that the family wanted the body of the- decedent transferred to the Martha B. Solomon Funeral Home. 14. After the phone call, on or about October 12, 1998, the Respondent ~ appeared at Mrs. Pritchett's residence and informed her and Ms. Bethel that she would not release the body ‘until she was paid some e type ‘of professional charge. . ‘15. “The Respondent refused to release the body prior to receiving a professional charge, despite the fact that she was practicing funeral directing without a license, and was not entitled to impose a professional charge. Ry On October 12, 1998, Department of Business and Professional Regulation (D.B.P. R) Investigator Clarence Ford ‘received att telephone call from Sam Solomon, ¢o- Ww WW owner of Martha B. Solomon Funeral Home, informing him that they had contacted the _ 9 stent . 7 ~ eh Respondent and been notified that the body of the decedent would not be released to their custody until the family paid for the embalming and removal services. 17. Inv. Ford contacted the Respondent who informed him that the amount owed to Calvin Butler Memorial was $395.00 for the embalming and the removal charges, and the Respondent agreed to release the body. 18. In the interim, Mrs. Pritchett and/or Ms. Bethel had been quoted several ‘different prices for the release of the body, with the Respondent quoting a price of a few hundred dollars and then a price of $1,000.00. 19. Onor about October 12, 1998, the family for the first time spoke to the funeral director in charge, Esther Ajoa, and were told the cost would be $750. 00. This was their first contact with Aj 0a, as all prior arrangements and transactions were solely with the Respondent. : 20, On October 12, 1998 at approximately 1:25 p.m., ., the body had still not been released to the Martha B. Solomon Funeral Home, and Inv. Ford again spoke with the Respondent who stated emphatically that she would release the body upon receiving her money. 21 ; The transfer of the remains did not take place until the afternoon of October i 3, 1998, approximately 24 hours after the initial request from the family. 22. ‘All of the arrangements for the transfer were eventually made by the Respondent, acting in the capacity of an unlicensed funeral director, and not Ajoa. COUNT I 23. The Petitioner incorporations the allegations set forth in paragraphs one through twenty-two as though fully set forth in this Count I. ~ 24, Section 470.0087(1), Florida Statutes, lists the functions that may only be performed by a licensed funeral director. The functions that may only be performed by a licensed funeral director are set forth in relevant part in Sections 470.0087(1)(a),(b),(c), and (h), Florida Statutes, as follows: 1) 470.0087(1)(a), Florida Statutes. Selling or offering to sell funeral services on an at-need basis. 2) Section 470. 0087006), Florida Statutes. Planning ¢ or arranging, on an at- need basis, the details of a funeral service with the family or friends of the decedent or any other person responsible for such service; setting the time of the service; establishing the type of service to’be rendered; acquiring the services of the clergy; and obtaining vital information for the filing of death certificates and obtaining of burial transit permits. 3) Section 470.0087, (D0), Florida Statutes. Making, negotiating, or completing the financial arrangements for a funeral service on an at-need basis, provided . that nonlicensed personnel may assist the funeral director in performing such tasks. 4) Section 470. 00871), Florida Statutes. Managing: or supervising the operation of a foneral establishment, except for administrative matters sach as budgeting, - accounting and personne maintenance of buildings, equipment and grounds, and routine clerical and revordkeeping functions. 25, Based upon ‘the foregoing, the Respondent violated Section 470.031(1)(a) _ _ Florida Statutes which provides that no person may practice funeral directing, embalming, or direct disposition unless the person holds an active license or registration under Chapter | ad Ww 470 Florida Statutes. ” . ad ~ eyo sO , COUNT II ‘-96. The Petitioner incorporations the allegations set forth in paragraphs one through twenty-two-as though fully set forth in this Count II. 27. Section 470. 0087(1), Florida Statutes, lists the functions that may only be performed bya a licensed funeral director. The functions that may only be performed by a ; licensed funeral director a are e set ‘forth i in relevant part in Section 470. 0087(1)(a), 0), (c), and (h) F lorida Statutes, as follows: 1) 470.0087(1)(a), Florida Statutes. Selling or offering to self funeral services on an at-need basis. 2) Section 470.0087(1)(b), Florida Statutes. Planning or arranging, on an at-need basis, the details ofa a funeral service with the family or friends of the decedent or any other person responsible for such service; setting the time of the service; establishing the type of service to be rendered: acquiring 5 the services of the clergy; and obtaining vital : information for the filing of death certificates and obtaining of burial transit permits. 3) Section 470. 008700) Florida Statutes. Making, negotiating, or completing the financial arrangements for a funeral service on an at-need basis, provided ~ that nonlicensed personnel may assist the funeral director in performing such tasks. 4) Section 470. 0087(1)(h), Florida Statutes. Managing or Supervising the a operation of a funeral establishment, except for administrative matters such as budgeting, accounting and personnel, maintenance of buildings, equipment and grounds, and routine _ clerical and recordkeeping functions. 28. Based upon the foregoing the Respondent violated Section 455. 227(1)(q), ad a WV ~ Florida Statutes, by Violating any provision of Chapter 470 Florida Statutes, the applicable 8 wel le funeral directing professional practice act, to wit: violating Section 470.031()(a), Florida Statut hich provides that no person may practice funeral directing, embalming, or direct disposition unless the person holds an active license or registration under Chapter 470 Florida Statutes. ; WHEREFORE, Petitioner respectfully requests that the Department enter an Order imposing one or more of the following penalties: imposition of an administrative fine not to exceed $5,000 per violation, assessment of costs associated with investigation and prosecution, imposition of any or all penalties delineated within Sections 455.227(2) and (3) Florida Statutes, and Chapter 470, Florida Statutes, and/or any other relief that the Department is authorized to impose pursuant to Chapters 455, and/or 470, Florida Statutes, and/or the rules promulgated thereunder. ote “ Signed this x | day of August 1999, THOMASS: Chief Attorney FILED Florida Bar Number 401640. 2/3 Us Vi Department of Business and Professional Regulation Department of Business and Professional Regulation DEPUTY CLERK 1940 N. Monroe Street . Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0792 creme candnf Michele

Docket for Case No: 00-002777PL