Comptroller's office reviewing Gaskins-Jones funeral contracts

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The state Comptroller's office is reviewing prepaid funeral contracts involving Gaskins-Jones Funeral Home.

State's Attorney Mike Henshaw has asked people to bring or send their pre-arranged contracts to the State's Attorney's office to make sure the contract is honored and for review by state authorities and law enforcement. The state's attorney is forwarding the contracts to the Comptroller's office for auditing. All of the contracts that can be found will be audited, Henshaw said.

A special prosecutor from the Appellate Prosecutor's office has been appointed to handle the case.

The funeral home is no longer in business; telephone service has been disconnected and the doors have been closed for at least two or three months, Henshaw said. The last obituary from Gaskins or Gaskins-Jones Funeral Home was published in the Daily Register on Nov. 5.

So far, 23 people have brought contracts to the State's Attorney's office. Henshaw urged people who have not yet stopped by to do so soon.

"It's very important that they get these contracts to us," Henshaw said. "That's because they are in the process of auditing every one of these contracts."

Money from prepaid funeral contracts is supposed to be secured until the contract-holder dies. Some of the contracts have been found to be secure - the money is still there. Some are not secured, Henshaw said. The Illinois State Police - the law enforcement arm of the case - is hoping to find where the unsecured money went.

So far, the investigation is open-ended. Some speculation has centered on John B. Jones' role in the case, who was a partner in the funeral home.

"The investigation is not limited to John B. Jones," Henshaw said.

Henshaw is not sure the investigation will be concluded quickly. The ISP has a great deal of work to do and the Comptroller's office will have quite a few audits to complete, Henshaw said.

The appellate prosecutor's office is handling the case because Henshaw used to be a law partner with Robert Wilson, who represented Jones for a time in a civil lawsuit among the partners at Gaskins-Jones Funeral home.

"This is what the county pays $6,000 per year for. It's money well spent," Henshaw said of the appellate prosecutor.

Gregory Meredith, a partner in the funeral home, sued Jones in 2008. Among contentions in the lawsuit were that at least some prepaid contracts were not secured. Jones denied the allegation in is answer to the civil lawsuit.