Families forced to maintain graves after Harnett cemetery's accounts looted

Family members of people buried in a Harnett County cemetery have to cut the grass and clean up around the graves because of financial problems with the cemetery.

Posted 12:00 a.m. Apr 2, 2021 — Updated 10:28 p.m. Apr 2, 2021

Gilbert Baez

, WRAL Fayetteville reporter

DUNN, N.C. — Family members of people buried in a Harnett County cemetery have to cut the grass and clean up around the graves because of financial problems with the cemetery.

Harnett Devotional Gardens, on Fairground Road outside of Dunn, was recently sold and is now in receivership. An audit last year found more than $135,000 missing from several trust funds there, according to the North Carolina Cemetery Commission.

Relatives of those buried at the cemetery are upset about the conditions there, especially since they paid fees for perpetual maintenance of the plots. For several weeks, they have brought garden tools from home to clean up the grounds.

"My brother came out here, and he cut all of our family's plots. I came out this week, and it was just terrible," Elda Jones said.

"I have a lot of family out here, and I come out and I weed-eat the grass and clean up the stones," Cathy Daniels said. "Our stone had actually fallen over, and they hadn't had anybody that could fix it."

The Cemetery Commission is working to fix the problem, recently sending someone out to cut the grass.

Silva Warren said someone still needs to repair potholes in the road that runs throughout the cemetery.

"If it rains everywhere, water's standing in the holes everywhere [and] splatters on the cars. It's terrible," Warren said.

The Cemetery Commission has asked people to report problems at Harnett Devotional Gardens through the commission's website.

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