Judge Calls Disgraced Funeral Director ‘Most Manipulative Human Being’

Apologies were not enough to keep a disgraced Hulmeville Borough funeral director from state prison.

David Wayne Faust, 54,was sentenced by Bucks County Judge Diane Gibbons to nine to 18 years in state prison for forging death certificates, misappropriating funds for prepaid funerals, and bilking the federal government of disability benefits. She also ordered him to serve nine years of probation once he was released from behind bars.

Faust told the court his crimes were because of an addiction to prescription to pills following a 2006 injury and other health issues.

Since his guilty plea in June, Faust, who worked at Faust Funeral Home on Bellevue Avenue, has delayed his sentencing by insisting he could come up with the $433,282 restitution. However, he was unable to sell off assets to pay restitution.

“I totally let you down,” a sobbing Faust said. “You did not deserve what I did to you.”

So far, the Pennsylvania Victim Compensation Assistance Program has paid out $45,000 in restitution, but the fund is considered a “payer of last resort” and has a limited amount of funds it can dole out.

The funeral director who worked at the facility started by his grandfather decades ago was initially charged in April 2017 falsifying death certificates and collecting more than $100,000 in federal Social Security disability benefits while working. Investigators said that Faust forged doctors’ signatures on death certificates instead of following procedure.

Following his first arrest, Bucks County Detectives filed additional charges after they uncovered Faust did not report prepayments for funeral services to the state, violating the law. He also used $296,853 in prepaid funeral funds from 54 clients, most over the age of 60, for his own use between 1999 and 2016, according to prosecutors.

In a form filed with the Social Security Administration, Faust reportedly said he had been out of work due to a disability since 2013 and failed to mention his work at the family funeral home in his list of daily tasks.

“You guys did do your homework,” Faust allegedly told detectives while they were investigating.

Cheryl Chamberlain said she cashed in an insurance policy and pulled from savings accounts to prepay for funerals for her Korean War veteran father and ill mother.

“My parents are not wealthy people. This whole situation has put a strain on our family,” Chamberlain said.

“I wanted to prepare for my funeral so it might be a little easier for my children when I die,” a 95-year-old victim suffering from cancer wrote in a statement to the court.

Despite Faust trying to explain how his injury and addiction made him a different person who did not think clearly, Gibbons did not believe his story.

“You are the most manipulative human being I think I have ever met,” she said. “There is nobody you dealt with in the last 20 years that you did not victimize.”

Defense attorney Steve Jones said his client’s crimes were due to poor business practices.

“I wasn’t trying to steal from anybody,” Faust said.

“This was someone who knew exactly what he was doing as he was doing it,” Deputy District Attorney Marc Furber said.

“The consequences of his actions have happened and they will continue to happen.”