Former Lexington funeral home employee pleads guilty to stealing $12K from charity
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- Former funeral home apprentice pleaded guilty to stealing $11,929 from charity.
- He submitted 23 fake funding requests using funeral home email and forged documents.
- Court records show sentencing set for March 17, potential 22 years and $250,000 fine.
A former Lexington funeral home employee pleaded guilty in federal court recently, admitting he stole nearly $12,000 from a Kentucky charity using the identities of deceased children to collect funeral expense aid.
Ronald Woolfolk Jr. pleaded guilty to federal counts of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in November. Court documents say he operated his scheme between August 2022 and October 2023, and stole $11,929.49 from a Georgetown nonprofit that supports families who have lost a child.
Woolfolk was a licensed mortician apprentice at an unnamed funeral home and had access to the business’ email account. Court documents say he submitted about 23 fraudulent requests for funeral expense funding to the charity through the official email address.
He deleted the emails from the funeral home’s account immediately after he sent the requests to the charity, according to court documents.
Five of the requests used the identities of people who had died, including a 9-month-old homicide victim and a 23-minute-old infant born prematurely.
The documents submitted to the charity included fake funeral expense invoices, fradulent cremation certificates and fake letters using the funeral home’s letterhead, according to court documents. If the requests were approved, the charity would send money to a Square account, “Heavens Headstones,” which was controlled by Woolfolk.
The maximum prison sentence for a wire fraud conviction is 20 years, while the maximum prison sentence for aggravated identity theft is two years. Court documents say the sentences will run consecutively, meaning he could spend up to 22 years in prison.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, March 17, according to court records.
Woolfolk could also face a maximum fine of $250,000. He agreed to pay back the money he stole as part of his guilty plea agreement.
