BUSHNELL, Fla. — Investigators say an employee at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell bought pizza and video gaming cards with a credit card he stole from a deceased veteran.
Family members of a 93-year-old World War II veteran who had passed away contacted the cemetery after noticing credit card charges posted to his account after he died.
The deceased veteran served in the Atlantic as a torpedoman in the United States Navy. He passed away on November 26, 2015, but his ashes were not interred at Florida National Cemetery until April 15, 2016.
A Sumter County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said that the veteran’s family members were resolving his financial affairs and discovered credit card charges on one of his accounts. The charges occurred on the same day that he was interred at the cemetery. The family reported their discovery to the sheriff’s office and Florida National Cemetery administrators.
Investigators contacted Kevin A. Cullen, 33, who is an employee at the cemetery and was tasked with interring the deceased. During an interview at the sheriff’s office, detectives say Cullen admitted to removing the wallet of the 93-year-old World War II veteran from an urn. He kept the wallet for his personal use and used a credit card that was in the wallet to buy pizza and video gaming cards.
Cullen was arrested on Monday and charged with two counts of fraudulent use of personal information of a deceased person, disturbing the contents of a grave or tomb, theft of a credit card and petit theft. Cullen was booked into the Sumter County Detention Center with bond set at $11,000.
