The LaSalle County State’s Attorney’s Office has dropped the charges against a funeral home director accused of embezzling money, because he died last month. Fifty-two year old William “BJ” Elias had been accused of taking more than $136,000 in prepaid funeral funds at the Elias Funeral Home from 2003 to 2019. He’d been in poor health.
Since it’s not possible to prosecute him, the charges were dropped. If restitution would have been part of the criminal case outcome, it’ll now be up to anyone who lost money in the alleged crime to go after Elias’ estate or the funeral home’s assets in court.