Downard Funeral Home owner signs plea agreement, admits to sending fake remains to families
Published at | Updated at
POCATELLO — The former owner of Downard Funeral Home has accepted a plea agreement for mistreating dead bodies, falsifying records, and sending fake remains of deceased people to their families.
Lance Peck was initially charged with 22 felony charges and 63 misdemeanor charges after investigators found evidence of “fraudulent activity involving missing anatomical donations” inside Downard Funeral Home in August 2021, according to court documents.
Peck had pleaded not guilty to all charges, but nearly four years later, on May 16, a plea agreement was filed, agreeing to a minimum of three years and a maximum of 10 years in prison.
Court records do not state whether Peck will receive credit for time served. He was arrested on Aug. 31, 2022, and booked into the Bannock County Jail. Peck was released the same day after posting a $20,000 bond.
RELATED | Judge rules on 2 motions in Lance Peck, Downard Funeral Home case
The plea agreement is binding, meaning that if the court does not follow the recommendations, Peck can withdraw his plea.
Peck is scheduled for a status conference on June 9, where he is expected to officially plead guilty.
Click here to read more about this case.
The plea agreement
According to the plea agreement, prosecutors have agreed to amend count one for unprofessional conduct by a mortician, funeral director or embalmer, in Peck’s misdemeanor case, to say Peck “provided the family of (a deceased person) the purported cremains of such a person, knowing that the cremains were not those of (the deceased person).”
Peck will plead guilty in his felony case to one count of failure to collect and pay over tax, perjury, offering false instruments for filing in a public office, and fraud by computer.
He will also plead guilty to multiple misdemeanors regarding the Mortician’s Code of Conduct, including misrepresentation or fraud in the conduct of mortician or funeral director services, violation of any state law, municipal or county ordinance or rule affecting the handling, custody, care, processing or transportation of dead human bodies, right to control disposition of a body, refrigeration of a body, and records regarding cremations.
The state agreed to dismiss all remaining charges in the misdemeanor and felony cases.
Peck agreed not to object to any impact statements from any of the victims of the dismissed charges and does not object to “reasonable restitution.”
According to the agreement, Peck will not be required to pay restitution for any “uncharged conduct,” and there will be no restitution on the counts where the statute of limitations had already expired before the charge was filed.
There will also be no restitution in this case for any victims or their families who are currently part of a civil settlement with Peck, Downard Funeral Home, or any related people or entities.
Case details
In July 2021, Idaho State University representatives told Pocatello Police detectives that a family had contacted them regarding the body of a family member that was supposed to have been donated to the school for scientific research. The body was returned to Downard for cremation in April 2017, the affidavit says, but the family never received the remains.
ISU then discovered that several cadavers were never received, despite intent-to-donate paperwork being completed.
University representatives told detectives they searched obituaries for other similar circumstances. ISU staff said they found six people whose bodies were supposed to have been donated to the university but were never received.
The next day, investigators contacted Pocatello Police for assistance after discovering “several unidentified bodies (inside Downard) … one of which was decaying on the floor in the garage,” court documents say.
RELATED | Charges against former funeral home owner moved to District Court
On Sept. 3, investigators learned the remains of 11 people were attached to “altered documents,” where at least one other body had its corneas removed. At least one body found was not attached to any documents inside the building.
Downard Funeral Home was demolished in 2023 and is now used as a parking lot for Pocatello High School students.