New HampshireDepartment of JusticeOffice of the Attorney General

News Release

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2022

Contact:
John F. Brown, Attorney
john.brown@doj.nh.gov | (603) 271-1273

James R. Roy, Roy Funeral Home, Inc. & Cremation Services, Unlicensed Practice Investigation

Concord, NH – Attorney General John M. Formella announces the arrest of James R. Roy, age sixty five, of Claremont, New Hampshire for one count of operating an unlicensed funeral home, two counts of making funeral arrangements without a license, one count of failure to transmit a death record, four counts of transporting a dead body without a burial permit, and three counts of unsworn falsification.

Roy is scheduled to be arraigned in the 5th Circuit Court – District Division – Claremont on May 16, 2022. All charges are class A misdemeanors, each of which is punishable by up to 12 months in the House of Corrections and a $2,000 fine.

Funeral homes and funeral directors must be licensed in New Hampshire. Funeral directors are also required to file death certificates with, and obtain burial permits from, the New Hampshire Division of Vital Records Administration.

Roy is the owner of Roy Funeral Home in Claremont. The complaints allege that following the 2021 expiration of Roy's funeral home and funeral director licenses, Roy continued to accept new clients, failed to file a death certificate, and generated counterfeit burial permits.

The Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau of the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office and the Claremont Police Department participated in the investigation.

The charges and allegations listed above are merely accusations, and the individual who has been arrested is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Attorney John F. Brown of the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau is prosecuting the case.

New Hampshire Department of Justice
1 Granite Place South | Concord, NH | 03301
Telephone: 603-271-3658