Funeral director makes second attempt to collect on lavish burial

Myron Johnson's grave in Park Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Conn., Dec. 30th, 2012. Myron Johnson's grave in Park Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Conn., Dec. 30th, 2012. Photo: Ned Gerard Photo: Ned Gerard Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Funeral director makes second attempt to collect on lavish burial 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

BRIDGEPORT -- A local funeral home director who gave a stranger a funeral fit for a king now wants to be reimbursed a princely sum from the man's estate -- more than $34,000.

"Over my dead body," said probate lawyer Richard Bortolot, who was appointed to represent the estate of Myron Johnson. "This is the craziest thing I've ever seen, and we are not paying it."

For more than 20 years, Johnson toiled for Metro-North Railroad, fixing the old clocks in the state's train stations. When he died on Christmas Day 2007 in his small downtown apartment, he was alone -- no friends or family.

His body was held at the state medical examiner's office for eight months because there was no one to claim it.

But in October 2008, Brenda Ortiz, the director of the Community Funeral Chapels on Park Avenue, who had never met Johnson, claimed his body.

When the 68-year-old Johnson died, he left behind $137,000 in the bank and nearly $4,000 in uncashed paychecks. When Ortiz picked up the body, she found $795 in Johnson's pockets.

"I decided to give him the best funeral I could," Ortiz said later. "I just wanted to give a beautiful funeral (with his money) for someone who didn't have any family."

So she bought a top-of-the-line stainless steel casket and ordered a stainless steel vault for burial at Park Cemetery.

By accounts, it was a beautiful funeral at St. Luke's/St. Paul's Episcopalian Church on Kossuth Street, a church Johnson had never attended. There were pall bearers and flowers, and even a guitar player.

The only thing missing was mourners.

The Rev. Jose Diaz, pastor of the church who was paid $250 for the service, recalled how striking the stainless steel casket was -- he had never seen one at a funeral there before.

On Oct. 24, 2008, Johnson was buried at Park Cemetery. Ortiz ordered a granite gravestone for $2,695 -- but that's when the disagreement began.

She submitted a bill to Probate Court seeking more than $64,000 in reimbursement from Johnson's estate. It included more than $30,000 for the casket, $23,000 for the vault, $600 for use of her facility for the wake that no one attended and $1,259 for her services.

The request was emphatically rejected by Probate Judge Paul Ganim, who accused Ortiz of trying to profit from Johnson's body.

Last week, Ortiz was back, this time with a revised bill totaling $34,049.28. She is now charging $13,544 for the casket and $10,584 for the vault. But she also wants $600 for the wake, $150 for the funeral, $175 for the church service, $150 for the graveside service, $1,259 for "basic" services and $2,956.70 for the headstone.

That last charge particularly irks Bortolot because he paid $1,800 to put a stone on Johnson's grave.

"This kind of greed really bothers me," said Bortolot, who has blocked payment to Ortiz. "She is still trying to make a profit over this man's death."

He said he was particularly offended when Ortiz tried to defend her actions by stating Johnson's money is "only going to get turned over to the state."

Bortolot said he will recommend to Ganim that Ortiz receive $1,800 for her efforts, the amount funeral homes receive from the state to cremate unclaimed bodies, and that's all.

Ortiz was unavailable for comment, but her lawyer, David Feliu, said they had "submitted our revised bill and we will abide by whatever the court rules."

He said the revised bill comes after his client was fined $5,000 for her actions by the state Department of Health. "The new figures represent the money she expended without a cent of profit for her."

dtepfer@ctpost.com; 203-330-6308; http:// twitter.com/dantepfer