Man charged with 66 offences in connection with fraud investigation at funeral home

July 22, 2022
Crapaud, Prince Edward Island

News release

Sixty-six fraud charges have been laid in connection with an investigation by the PEI RCMP Major Crime Unit into allegations of financial irregularities at a funeral home in Crapaud, PEI.

The allegations are related to prearranged funeral plans. Under the PEI Prearranged Funeral Services Act, the vendor of a prearranged funeral plan must place the funds into a trust account within 30 days of signing an agreement with a client. On August 30, 2021, police received a complaint that funds given to Dawson Funeral Home in Crapaud had not been placed in trust, and that the money was unaccounted for.

Since the initial complaint, police have learned of dozens of other prearranged funeral plans that were also not placed in trust. The funds involved are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On July 21, 2022, charges were laid in Charlottetown Provincial Court against 70-year-old Lowell Oakes of Crapaud. The charges include 36 counts of fraud over $5,000, and 30 counts of fraud under $5,000.

Lowell Oakes is scheduled to appear in court on August 22, 2022, to enter a plea.

"Our investigation isn't over yet - we believe it is possible there may be other victims out there," says Sgt. Craig Eveleigh of the Queens District RCMP. "We are now asking anyone who purchased a prearranged funeral plan from Dawson Funeral home in Crapaud between 1996 and 2021, to contact an RCMP detachment in PEI as soon as possible. If you have already filed a report, police will be following up with you."

PEI RCMP is in the process of reaching out to all known complainants to update them on the investigation.

Dawson Funeral Home has been closed since August 2021. The PEI Funeral Professions and Services Board suspended the licences associated with the business in August. The licences were revoked in March of 2022.

The investigation is continuing.

Anyone who purchased a prearranged funeral plan from Dawson Funeral Home in Crapaud, PEI between 1996 and 2021 is asked to contact their nearest RCMP detachment in Prince Edward Island. Police will be in contact with every person who reports falling victim relating to this case. A list of Island detachments is available here Find a detachment - Prince Edward Island (rcmp-grc.gc.ca) .

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Contact information

Sgt. Craig Eveleigh
PEI RCMP
902-566-8864

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