TAFT, Tx. — When a loved one dies, the last thing you want to worry about is whether their final resting place is a place you can trust. That worry is what's happening for dozens of families in Taft.
6 Investigates was directed to a Facebook group with more 500 members, all with complaints about a local cemetery. It contained stories of negative interactions, a fire that burned for at least two days, and pictures of crumbling or knocked-over headstones.
One of those stories involved Moises Cisnero, whose grandmother is laid to rest at the Lamas Memorial Park Cemetery in Taft. He said her headstone kept getting knocked over.
Cisnero's family had paid to get it remounted by the cemetery, but after the third time it was knocked over they hired an outside contractor to re-mount the stone.
Shortly after, the headstone disappeared.
"They ripped that headstone out of that ground, I can’t prove it, but it took 13 of us to lift it," said Cisnero.
The headstone was only found after filing a police report and was discovered scattered among others near the office building.
"My grandma's headstone was there lying next to about 15 other headstones," he said. "I mean they were all just piled up."
Juan Frank Lamas, the owner of the cemetery, says he removed the headstone but that cemetery rules say monument setting and foundation work could only be done by the cemetery, adding that the headstone wasn't safe.
"He wanted me to pay him $925 in cash. Pay me and I'll remount his grandmother’s headstone," Cisnero said.
Paul Lemasters, an attorney for the International Cemetery Cremation Funeral Association, or ICCFA, says this is morally questionable.
"It's almost a scam of we determine what's safe and then the only way to fix it is to hire us, and if you don’t, we are going to remove it. I mean that's pretty limiting and pretty egregious," Lemasters said.
Lemasters said the biggest misconception about cemeteries is that people think they own the land and can do what they wish.
"What you own is an internment right," he said. "You own a right to be buried and that is it." Yet a headstone or grave marker is still considered private property though, and a cemetery may not be able to remove it without cause. "Technically they can't touch it because it's your property. I've had claims against cemeteries for trespass, and those claims have held up."
6 Investigates spoke with dozens of concerned Taft residents about the cemetery, and while some claims couldn't be proved, others were more apparent, like the burial of bodies in plots that were already purchased.
“They buried somebody in one of my plots where I am supposed to bury my daughter and I don't know who he asked for permission, but it's not going to work," said Taft Resident Robert Torres.
Other claims included massive dirt mounds covering burial sites, and the removal of headstones and markers, leaving families unable to locate their loved ones. When asking for assistance in locating the graves, families are told by the Lamas's that they must pay a price, with some being quoted anywhere from $25 to $125.
Another issue was piles of trash and debris burning at the cemetery, the most recent in December of 2023 that lasted at least two days.
"I don't know that I would ever encourage a cemetery, crematory or anyone to ever basically do any sort of outdoor burning, just because it's going to have people asking questions," said Lemasters.
The Lamas Memorial Park Cemetery is a privately owned public cemetery, and not a perpetual care cemetery, and is thus outside the regulatory oversight that many cemeteries must adhere to. This means they only must answer to their own policies and procedures, which have changed several times over a few short years.
6 Investigates tried reaching out to Mr. Lamas for weeks for comment on these issues. When we finally got him on the phone, he, between yelling and cursing at us, denied all the allegations. He continued calling Taft residents "liars, thieves, lazy and drug dealers" among other things we cannot repeat.
He agreed to sit down with us, for a price. He wanted KRIS 6 to expose our sources, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from Mr. Lamas. KRIS 6 of course would not and will never give up sources, so he refused the interview in an email saying in part "We are not going to explain anything to anybody because we don't owe anyone an explanation. People are just nosy, they see something and immediately assume there is some illegal act in progress."
We will continue to investigate Lamas Memorial Park, and bring you updates as they come in.
