Inset: Carmen Maldonado (The Rizzuto Law Firm). Background: The funeral home that is accused of sending Maldonado’s body to the wrong country (WNBC).
A family is suing a beleaguered New York funeral home, alleging workers sent the casket containing the body of their 96-year-old mother to the wrong country to be buried, which the family learned in a TikTok video from a journalist posting about the mistake in Guatemala.
Carmen Maldonado’s wish was to be buried next to her husband in Ecuador, but her children allege that R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home, also doing business as Rivera Funeral Home, sent her casket to Guatemala.
“I was devastated. I couldn’t believe that this could be such a big confusion,” daughter Rosa Sicha told New York NBC affiliate WNBC. “I started to cry, and I was incredibly upset.”
In a statement to Law&Crime, the family’s attorney, Phil Rizzuto, said the children were in shock after learning about it and were dealt a second blow when the funeral home denied it.
“The children of Ms. Maldonado were in shock and were devastated when they learned from TikTok that their mother’s body was in Guatemala,” he said. “The Funeral home assured them their mother was at their Funeral Home and her transport to Ecuador was delayed because they needed additional paperwork. There is no amount of money that can hold Rivera accountable for attempting to cover up their neglect.”
The funeral home and its lawyers declined to comment, WNBC reported.
The complaint outlines the allegations that occurred after Maldonado died on May 18 in New York.
Two days later, her children entered into a contract with the funeral home regarding the disposition of the remains of their mother to be laid to rest in Ecuador.
On May 26, the funeral home carelessly sent her body to the wrong country and failed to properly advise her family of their error, court documents said.
Maldonado’s children were “horrified, saddened, sickened, dismayed” when they learned about it, court documents said.
Her body remained in Guatemala from May 26 through June 10, when the son went to recover it. By that time, Rizzuto said her remains were badly decomposed.
“The hands of the body, the skin was falling off, so they had to wrap them in Saran wrap,” Rizzuto told The New York Post.
This is not the first time the funeral home, which operates in primarily Spanish-speaking communities in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, has been the subject of controversy.
The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) secured over $600,000 for consumers harmed by the funeral home.
The settlement stemmed from a lawsuit the DCWP filed against R.G. Ortiz for egregious violations of the city’s consumer protection law, including refusing to provide information regarding the whereabouts of loved ones’ remains, misrepresenting or concealing the prices of services offered, failing to provide services that consumers paid for — in part because they routinely presented remains in unacceptable conditions.
In one case, someone reported a loved one’s body “emitted a terrible smell, and the body appeared to already be visibly decomposing,” according to that lawsuit.
Another R.G. Ortiz customer reported a loved one’s remains were in terrible shape for the planned viewing, court documents said.
“The body was not properly prepared, and in fact was still in a body bag, and there were ‘bugs flying all around,’” the documents said.
Another funeral home customer reported that when she arrived for her grandson’s viewing, his remains were leaking liquid, the wax on his skin appeared to be melting, and the body appeared to be in a state of decomposition.
The experience was even more macabre as one of her grandson’s eyes would not stay shut, constantly opening and moving throughout the viewing, the document said.
“Few moments in our lives are as challenging as when we’re mourning the passing of a loved one, and R.G. Ortiz sought to exploit those moments of grief and prey on vulnerable New Yorkers,” said DCWP Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga. “Money will never heal the wounds R.G. Ortiz’s conduct inflicted, but we’re proud to hold this business accountable and secure justice for our neighbors.”
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