Man running gravestone businesses in Pa. and New Jersey charged by federal grand jury with $1.5 million fraud

A 54-year-old man whose gravestone businesses have repeatedly run afoul of authorities has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of defrauding customers of more than $1.5 million, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced Tuesday.

Gregory J. Stefan Jr., of Upper Merion, was charged with seven counts of wire fraud and made his first court appearance Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jose R. Arteaga, Romero said. The grand jury indictment was filed late last month.

Prosecutors allege that Stefan, through his businesses 1834 LLC and Colonial Memorials, defrauded nearly 500 customers for more than $1.5 million for headstones that were never delivered, or were late or had other problems, Romero said.

The indictment says Stefan demanded large up-front payments from his customers — often 100% of the purchase price — but routinely failed to fulfill the orders by the projected delivery date.

In December, Stefan Jr. was charged in Delaware with felony theft in connection with a gravestone that was never delivered.

Stefan Jr. also was arrested and charged last year in Delaware County with 280 counts related to theft and deceptive business practices.

The law office representing Stefan Jr. declined to comment Tuesday.

In 2015, Gregory Stefan Sr. was originally sued by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office in 2015 as the sole operator of Lifestone by Stefan LLC and Stefan Memorials Inc. The businesses had been the subject of complaints dating back to at least 2010, according to the federal indictment.

The 2015 civil case ended in a settlement and court order, but former Attorney General Josh Shapiro accused Stefan Sr. of violating the terms of that agreement. That resulted in a judgment for more than $300,000 and an injunction that barred Stefan Sr. from owning, managing, or having any significant involvement in a business that provides or engraves headstones for consumers.

As complaints persisted, the Attorney General’s Office sued again in 2021.

In January 2023, the Attorney General’s Office announced that it had reached a settlement with Gregory J. Stefan Sr., Gregory J. Stefan Jr., and Gerard Stefan, who were described as the owners of 1843 LLC.

The federal indictment says that 1843 LLC was formed in 2016 with a registered office in Upper Darby, and that Stefan Jr. and his brother, identified by prosecutors only as “G.S.,” each had 50% ownership.

Stefan Jr. ran the day-to-day operations from 2016 till around March 2021, the indictment says. The business got its headstones from a third-party supplier in Hillsborough, N.J.

According to the indictment, Stefan Jr. would sell headstones with an average markup over cost of 400%.

In 2021, a Delaware County judge found the Stefan businesses to be in contempt of the original consent agreement. The federal indictment alleges that Stefan Jr. then “orchestrated the incorporation” of Colonial Memorials, a headstone business in Bridgewater, N.J.

His wife was listed as the president, but Stefan Jr. ran the business from 2021 till around September 2023, the indictment says.

Stefan Sr. was in the headstone business since the 1970s and acquired other family-run headstone businesses over the years, the indictment says. Those other businesses continued to operate under their old names, but they were run by the Stefan family.