Whiting Cemetery Manager Stole $76,000, Prosecutor Says

A Whiting resident who manages a local cemetery has been arrested after allegedly stealing $76,000 from the cemetery in a scheme that stretched over five years, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato announced Tuesday.

Alan R. Grote, 64, who runs day-to-day operations at Whiting Memorial Park, was diverting money from the cemetery by offering customers a discount if they made payments to his company, Cash Management Consultants, Coronato said, with investigators turning up about 100 different incidents since 2009.

Grote, who was arrested Monday by Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Detectives James Conroy and Brad Frank and Manchester Officer Mike Lynch, provided the services those customers paid for, Coronato said, but left no paper trail to document the payments. The scheme may have extended beyond that, Coronato said, with indications Grote may have sold plots, mausoleums and openings and closings during the same five-year period.

Grote's scheme started to unravel at the beginning of September, Coronato said, when Ocean County Prosecutor’s Detective Sheryl Saldida brought the case to the attention of the prosecutor’s Economic Crimes Bureau—within three weeks, Conroy had uncovered evidence of the scheme.

The investigation is ongoing, Coronato said, as investigators work with the cemetery's owner to determine the full extent of the thefts.

Anyone who paid for services at Whiting Memorial Park Cemetery to Grote and his Cash Management Consultants company is asked to contact Conroy at 732-929-2027.

Grote, who was charged with second-degree theft by deception, is currently in the Ocean County Jail in default of $35,000 full cash bail.