GRAY, Ga. — Jones County has a new coroner Thursday after former coroner, Jerry Bridges, resigned after being arrested on 24 charges.
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Bridges is accused of stealing more than $100,000 in his role as former owner of a funeral home and current owner of a cemetery. He was charged with 22 counts of theft by conversion and 2 counts of misappropriation of pre-needs. He was released from jail on $100,000 bond.
One of his alleged victims is Michael Strickland of Macon. In 2014, Strickland went to Bridges Funeral Home in Gray to set up a pre-needs policy for his sister, Jennifer, who became disabled at age 11. He said his sister is in a vegetative state from a childhood accident.
"She was in Central State Nursing Home, and before it closed, there was a fund that we needed to allocate towards her final expenses," Strickland said.
He said the policy was for more than $5,200, but now the Jones County Sheriff's Office said that money is gone. Investigators charged then-coroner Jerry Bridges with stealing more than $100,000 from Strickland and 21 other victims while owning the funeral home and Cedar Ridge Cemetery.
"While I was [at the sheriff's office], there were people showing up to talk to them and more people calling on the phone about the situation, so I can only imagine so many people having to go through that situation," Strickland said.
Bridges allegedly stole from two different state regulated accounts, a pre-needs account designed for funeral expenses and a perpetual care account for upkeep of graves at Cedar Ridge Cemetery.
Jones County investigator Kenny Gleaton said some of the funeral policies purchased at the funeral home go back decades.
"Some of the policies were sold back in the late 1990s. Now, as far as when the funds were removed or moved over, that's some of the information we're still working on as far as correlating specific dates and times," Gleaton said.
Strickland's mother actually helped to establish his sister's pre-needs policy. He said she wouldn't take Bridges' alleged actions quietly.
"If momma were around, she'd be hunting the man down," he said.
Strickland will be more gracious. He said he'll hold off on passing judgement until the matter is settled in court. Still, the emotional damage has already taken its toll.
"It's peace of mind you're paying for, and to know that's been ripped out from underneath you is heart wrenching. It really is," Strickland said.
Strickland said investigators told him they would be seizing Bridges' assets, but he doesn't know if he'll ever get his money back.