TOLEDO, Ohio — Shawnte Hardin, who was convicted of charges related to running an unlicensed funeral home business, was sentenced Friday to 11 years and 10 months in prison.
Hardin, who faced more than 40 charges initially, was convicted earlier this month of the most serious charge - engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, which is a first-degree felony. Judge Michael Goulding said it was clear that Hardin operated his funeral business without a proper license.
"The court finds your actions those of a con man," Goulding said before sentencing Hardin to between 10 years, five months and 13 years, five months for one set of charges and 17 months for another set of charges.
Prosecutors had asked for a 45-year prison sentence.
Goulding found Hardin guilty on 31 charges:
- Eight counts of representation of a funeral director while unlicensed
- Six counts of abuse of a corpse
- Four counts of passing bad checks
- Three counts of failure to file taxes
- Three counts of tampering with records
- Two counts of theft
- Two counts of telecommunications fraud
- One count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity
- One count operating an unlicensed funeral home
- One count of possessing criminal tools
In court today, two women read their victim impact statements. Both, previous witnesses that took the stand in July.
First was Charlotte Weatherspoon who gave an emotional testimony last month, saying how she hasn't been able to grieve her son Charles' death because of the actions of Hardin.
Today in court, she started yelling at Hardin, lifting the table and telling him he's a liar.
"I have so much hate, I wish misery upon you, your family, and your soul. I want you to pay for that. I pray every night. I pray that something happens to you. And you are treated like how you treated my son," Weatherspoon said.
She says Hardin was untruthful to her about not having a proper license and since has caused headaches through her grief.
"You ruined my son's memory, every time I think of him, this ugliness that you put on me, it over stands the memory, it stains it," Weatherspoon said.
Carol King also gave her statement, saying she hired Hardin for her sisters funeral. She says Hardin was like family to her and trusted him.
A month after her sister's funeral, her body was found decomposing in Hardin's business.
"I go see my baby in a box, foaming at the mouth with green on her skin... turning green," King said.
She says his actions has brought pain on many people, including her.
"I am a mental health specialist and I can't even get my own mental health in check. I can't see my clients without seeing my sister's face," King said.
After his arrest in October 2021, Hardin initially faced 44 charges, but six of those were dismissed before the judge convicted Hardin at the end of a three-week bench trial in Toledo.
Prosecutors have said Hardin committed his crimes in several Ohio counties, including Franklin, Lucas, Cuyahoga and Summit.
More than 50 witnesses testified that Hardin deceived them into believing he was a funeral director who could offer affordable funerals for loved ones. Instead, they said that cremated remains were not returned, some bodies were not cremated, and death certificates were not produced in a timely manner.
In one case, a witness claimed that Hardin, a Baptist preacher, told him that he had converted to Islam.
After the verdict, Hardin continued to deny the charges.
"I still maintain my innocence," he said. "I believe that maybe there could have been some other things that could have been brought forward that were not. However, I am where I am right now and so I'm gonna move forward with my life, right up to the sentencing date and I'll go forward from there."
Hardin's crimes, prosecutors told the judge, involved a criminal enterprise in which he promised specific funeral services and didn't deliver. The state argued Hardin performed funeral services only a licensed funeral director can perform. Hardin pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Hardin testified that he never impersonated a funeral director, abused corpses or illegally transported bodies. The defense also called witnesses that claim Hardin never presented himself as a funeral director, just someone who knew how to do funerals.
Evidence presented during the bench trial showed that Hardin used the passcodes of funeral directors he was associated with to gain access to the Ohio Department of Health's Electronic Death Registration System. That system allows for death certificates to be entered.
He also was a pastor at Greater Faith Missionary Baptist Church in Akron, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. The state said more than 80 remains were found in the church.
Hardin operated businesses during the past couple of years under names such as Hussain Funeral Directors and Celebration of Life Memorial Chapels, according to the Ohio attorney general’s office, which prosecuted the case.
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