Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announced that 54 year-old Paris J. Childs of 10 Eckerson Ave., Akron, pleaded guilty, as charged, to four counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, Falsification of Business Records in the First Degree, Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree and Violation of Probation before Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia.  These are the highest charges for which Childs could have been convicted had he gone to trial.  In other words, Childs was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Childs admitted that between March 22, 2006 and November 18, 2013, he obtained over $74,000 in pre-paid burial funds which he converted to his own benefit rather than depositing the funds in trust accounts as required by New York State law.  Childs is the former funeral director of the Child’s Funeral Home in Akron. 

This marks Child’s second conviction for embezzling funds from vulnerable victims.  He was convicted of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree in 2010 for embezzling over $175,000 from an elderly widow.  As a second felony offender, Childs faces a maximum of 24 years in state prison on these felony offenses when he is sentenced on July 1, 2014 at 9:30 a.m. by Justice Buscaglia. 

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Candace K. Vogel, who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Financial Crimes Bureau.  DA Sedita also noted the efforts of the New York State Police BCI Senior Investigator Joseph Commisso and stated further:  “A contemptible crook was caught dead-to-rights because of their thorough investigation.”