Former Pittsburgh funeral home director Patrick Vereb has accepted a plea deal to avoid going to trial over allegations of widespread pet cremation fraud.
Vereb was charged with multiple felonies after a 2025 whistleblower complaint revealed he pocketed over $600,000 from approximately 6,500 pet owners for private cremations, but instead dumped the animals' bodies into landfills and returned random ashes.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2027, with the official details of his plea agreement set to be released next week.
