Local Cemetery Sales Associate Arrested For Multiple Fraudulent Crimes

By  //  June 1, 2017

Karla Amos, 47, arrested

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Economic Crimes Task Force has arrested 47-year-old Karla Patterson Amos, from Melbourne, for fraudulent activities revolving around her employment as a Family Services Counselor for a local cemetery.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Economic Crimes Task Force has arrested 47-year-old Karla Patterson Amos, from Melbourne, for fraudulent activities revolving around her employment as a Family Services Counselor for a local cemetery.

According to Tod Goodyear of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, Amos was arrested on Wednesday after a warrant was issued charging her with Scheming to Defraud, 76 counts of uttering a Forged Instrument and eight counts of Criminal Use of Personal Identification.

The investigation concluded in May of 2016 after a local cemetery discovered that Amos was writing fraudulent burial contracts in order to obtain commission and bonuses.

“Amos would take contracts that were already sold or informational packets with the customer’s information and draw up fraudulent contracts,” said Goodyear.

Tod Goodyear

“These contracts would be presented to the company who then paid Amos commission for the sales. The contracts would later be cancelled for non-payment, however, Amos would have already collected the commission.”

“Amos would also use personal identifiers from several sources to draw up fraudulent contracts and it was determined that Amos conducted this activity between March 2015 to March 2016, then obtained nearly $28,000 in fraudulent commission and bonuses,” Goodyear added.

Authorities say in a few cases, payments were diverted from legal to fraudulent contracts, however, those payments have now been correctly applied and no potential burial purchasers suffered a monetary loss.

The Sheriff’s Office knows there are victims who had their personal information compromised with Ms. Amos’ activity, which resulted in the Identity Theft charges.

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Amos was transported to the Brevard County Jail Complex where she was released after posting a $68,000 Bond.

Anyone with information in reference to this investigation is asked to please call Agent Harry Bermudez of the Economic Crimes Task Force at 321-633-8410.

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Economic Crimes Task Force is comprised of investigators from the Sheriff’s Office, Titusville Police Department, Melbourne Police Department, Cocoa Police Department and a dedicated attorney from the State Attorney’s Office.