Funeral director wants his old job after forgery

By Uriah A. Kiser

Published: May 22, 2008

A former Fredericksburg City Councilman and funeral home director is in the process of reapplying for his funeral director’s license after loosing it for forgery.

Ambrose Bailey says the Virginia Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers fined him more than $2,000 and pulled his funeral directors license in October for forging the signature of the Fredericksburg Medical Examiner on 18 death certificates, between February and December 2005.

Bailey forged Phillip’s signature again in between October 2005 and June 2006 on five cremation certificates.

“There is no excuse, I made some really bad decisions during that time period,” said Bailey, former director of the Bailey Funeral Service.

Bailey said that he is hoping to hear from the state on the status of his license this week.

“I have worked with the family a long time and I never thought that anyone from that family would ever do anything like that to me,” said Dr. Frederic A. Phillips, Fredericksburg medical examiner.

Phillips said that he is paid a sum of $50 by the state to examine each body that is to be cremated. It is ultimately his job to give the okay for the procedure.

Phillips said that his signature certifies that the body is ready for cremation and that the state has no father interest in the death of the individual.

Because of the rising popularity of the practice, he stays very busy, he said.

The Mercer Vault Company, the company who performs the cremations, contacted Phillips about the suspicious looking signatures, according to Phillips.

Bailey said his decisions were a “hasty” effort to process as much paperwork as he could during a time when he was feeling ill. During the time of the forgeries
his kidneys were in the process of shutting down. Bailey said he is still receiving dialysis treatment for his kidneys.

Bailey said that his funeral home is still in operation, with another individual overseeing daily operations.

“I don’t know what this is going to do to their business, but I would be happy to work with them again,” said Phillips.

Bailey was appointed to the Fredericksburg City Council in 1993 to complete the remaining term of his father, Weldon Bailey, when he resigned due to health.

Bailey went on to serve two consecutive terms.