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Dickinson Family Funeral Homes director Gary Sebranek, 58, of 6007 E. Robil Court, has 60 days to pay the $200 fine and $150 in court costs ordered by La Crosse County Circuit Judge Todd Bjerke or complete 20 hours of community service in lieu of the fine.
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Sebranek pleaded guilty July 3 to one misdemeanor count of public assistance fraud for charging the family of a deceased Medicaid recipient for funeral and burial expenses while also submitting a claim to the state for $2,500 in public assistance funds in April 2006, according to the criminal complaint filed by the state Department of Justice. Restitution has been paid.
Assistant Attorney General Eric Defort and defense attorney Marcus Berghahn agreed to jointly recommend Sebranek pay court costs after considering his character, remorse, lack of criminal record and minimal recidivism risk. He also cooperated with the state throughout its investigation.
“Once this did come out, you did the right thing and apparently have not stopped doing the right thing since that point,” Bjerke said. “To some degree you should be commended, despite the fact that you should be condemned for the fraud that you committed.”
Sebranek, a funeral director for 32 years, apologized to the state and his family during his short statement to the court.
“The state’s investigation has given me a great deal of time to reflect about what I did and regardless of my good intentions, what I did was wrong,” he said.
Co-defendant and funeral home owner Darrell Dickinson, 59, of La Crosse was sentenced Aug. 22 to three days in the
La Crosse County Jail and six months on electronic monitoring after pleading guilty to two felony charges of public assistance fraud for making false claims in June and November 2006. He completed his jail sentence Thursday.
Berghahn and Bjerke agreed the difference in charges faced by Sebranek and Dickinson reflected the difference in their culpability in the crimes.
