The Maryland Attorney General’s Office has ordered the owner of a now-deceased company to return tens of thousands of dollars to grieving families for grave markers that were never delivered.

The agency called on James E. Kinsey and his company, Maryland Memorials LLC, to pay at least $58,000 in restitution to short-changed customers, plus $27,000 for violations of consumer protection laws and $11,900.28 in administrative costs.

Attorney General Brian E. Frosh said that Kinsey “took an average of $2,400 from consumers without providing anything in return.  One consumer paid Mr. Kinsey $8,650 for a grave marker for her recently deceased father, but never received anything.”

The state found that, among other things, Kinsey violated the Maryland Cemetery Act that requires that advance payments for memorials or other burial goods be placed in an escrow account.

Dates Back to 2013

In August 2013, a complaint was filed with the Office of Cemetery Oversight against Kinsey’s company, which was located on Crain Highway in Glen Burnie.

The agency suspended his license in January 2014, but by that time Kinsey had already closed the business. He was facing a lawsuit from Susquehanna Bank accusing him and two of his companies (Maryland Memorials and Kinsey & Son Removal) of defaulting on $270,000 in loans.

In early 2015, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation referred the case to the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.

In May 2015, the division filed a statement of charges against Kinsey, Maryland Memorials and Maryland Memorial by Kinsey, Inc., seeking relief for consumers victimized by his practices. Last July, a hearing was held by the division where customers testified about their experiences with the company.

Kinsey, whose Ellicott City home was foreclosed last year, is listed in court records as living on the Eastern Shore. He could not be reached for comment.