Muskogee Lawyer Surrenders In Tennessee

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- A Muskogee lawyer has surrendered in Memphis, Tennessee, on charges of helping steal millions of dollars in cemetery trust funds.<br/><br/>Stephen Smith surrendered at the Shelby

Thursday, May 17th 2007, 10:01 am

By: News On 6

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- A Muskogee lawyer has surrendered in Memphis, Tennessee, on charges of helping steal millions of dollars in cemetery trust funds.

Stephen Smith surrendered at the Shelby County Jail in Memphis and was later released on $20,000 bond.

Smith is charged with Okmulgee oilman Clayton Smart and stockbroker Mark Singer of Pennsylvania with theft of property, conspiracy and money laundering.

Smart is in the Okmulgee County Jail on more than $4 million bond as he fights extradition. Smart is also charged with 39 felonies in a similar case in Michigan.

In Tennessee Smart and Smith were officers in a company that owned three funeral homes and cemeteries with $29 million in prepaid burial policies.

Last July Smart said the cemeteries would not honor 13,000 prepaid policies and began charging $4,000 to families who had held the policies for decades.