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Officials: Whitehall funeral director buried empty urn, misled family

Posted at 12:06 PM, Mar 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-04 13:22:25-05
Thomas Claude Clock III (Photo from the Muskegon County Prosecutor's Office)

Thomas Claude Clock III (Photo from the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office)

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP/WXMI) — The Muskegon County Prosecutor says a funeral director in Whitehall buried an empty urn and mislead a family into thinking it contained a relative’s cremated remains.

Thomas Claude Clock III turned himself in Friday at the Muskegon County Jail. He’s charged with fraud, attempted larceny by conversion of at least $1,000 and conducting mortuary services without a license.

Clock was the owner-operator of the now-closed Clock Funeral Home of White Lake that’s located in Whitehall. It’s not affiliated with other funeral homes with the Clock name.

Prosecutors say Clock was performing funeral and mortuary services without a license since Oct. 31 and the fraudulent burial took place Dec. 28.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.