The Pasco County Sheriff's Office has arrested a former employee of a Hudson cemetery and funeral home after he reportedly sold a non-existent burial plot to a local resident and pocketed the money.
Michael J. Ritz, 49, of Trinity, sold the burial plot at Grace Memorial Gardens for $2,410 to a resident in March. In November, the victim returned to the funeral home because she changed her mind about the the plot she had bought. At that time, it was discovered that the plot was not actually sold and Ritz allegedly pocketed the cash by putting his own name on the check.
Grace Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home reimbursed the victim and Ritz was fired.
Ritz is charged with Grand Theft.
Deputies say that within weeks of being fired by Grace Memorial Gardens, Ritz found another job at Memory Gardens in Tampa on Lake Avenue.
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