Former Cemetery Employee Charged in Theft of Funeral Expenses Payments
COOK COUNTY, IL – A former cemetery employee has been charged with multiple felonies after a Cook County Sheriff’s Police investigation found she secretly pocketed more than $100,000 from payments for funeral expenses, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today.
Sheriff’s Police Detectives launched an investigation after staff from a Glenwood cemetery reported in August 2023 that one of their employees, 48-year-old Latrecia Marshall-Parris, had taken a cash amount from a family for a headstone, but then deposited a lesser amount in her employer’s account.
The employee, who was subsequently fired, had worked with families in planning funerals,
including assisting them with purchasing headstones, which were often paid for in cash.
During their investigation, Detectives learned that Marshall-Parris took a portion of the families’ payments 49 times from April 2022 to August 2023. More than $114,200 was taken.
On March 27, 2025, an arrest warrant was issued for Marshall-Parris, of the 100 block of W. 154th Place in Harvey. She was arrested on April 16 by Harvey Police and turned over to Sheriff’s Police custody.
On April 17, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved two counts of continuing a financial crime enterprise, one count of felony theft, and one count of theft deception/intent, against Marshall-Parris.
She made her initial appearance on April 18 at the Markham Courthouse where she was
ordered released from custody pending trial.
The public is reminded that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
