A funeral director is charged with ripping off his most vulnerable clients and it's the same man who police once arrested for using meth while in a hearse.
Toby Polley once served as the ray county coroner and owned three funeral homes in the county but the Missouri attorney general alleges he stole thousands of dollars from his elderly victims.
Earl Hurshman first met Polley just before Earl's wife passed away in 2011.
"He gave me her coffin and so I figured well he's a pretty generous type of person so when I went to make arrangements of my own funeral I thought well I just go through Toby," Hurshman said.
In March 2014, he wrote Polley a check for $7,383.
The 84-year-old and several other victims would never see their money again.
"I went out there to make some changes in my funeral arrangements ... and found out that he went belly up,"
By then new owners took over Polley's funeral home in Excelsior Springs. But his funeral homes in Lawson and in Richmond remain closed.
The metro first learned of Polley's troubles last winter.
Police arrested him when they found Polley smoking meth inside his hearse in the parking lot of the Argosy Casino.
On Thursday, the Missouri Attorney General's office filed charges for taking more than $51,000 from half a dozen victims in prearranged funeral agreements.
The state says he wasn't even authorized to enter into such contracts.
"He has nothing to say," that's according to his wife who came to the door at their Lawson home.
As for Hurshman he said if he ever recoups the money he gave to Polley, it'll go to the dollhouses and fire station he builds for needy children in his basement, otherwise known as Grandpa's workshop for kids"
"I actually have no hard feeling toward Polley I'm not a vindictive person," Hurshman said. "He will be judged in the afterlife, so it's not for me to judge him."
A warrant has been issued for Polley's arrest
There's no word as when he'll face the judge for his latest charges.
The attorney general's office has asked for a $50,000 cash only bond.
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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com
