Oklahoma City cemetery foreclosure raises many questions burials have happened recently
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BY JOHN ESTUS
Published: July 31, 2009




An Oklahoma City cemetery was foreclosed on recently, prompting questions about what will happen to bodies buried there.
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Adding to the plight is a possible FBI investigation into mortgage improprieties by the matriarch of the family that owns the cemetery.
Riverside Gardens Cemetery, near NE 36 and Sooner Road, was foreclosed on in May.
Linda Johnson buried her brother there three weeks ago.
"Oh my God — don’t tell me that,” Johnson said of the cemetery’s foreclosure.
She cried, and speaking of her brother, asked: "What do I do with him now?”
The answer is unclear. Numerous attorneys and cemetery owners did not know what could happen to buried bodies at Riverside Gardens if it is sold to a new owner at a court-ordered auction.
The cemetery is one of many recently foreclosed-on properties owned by or connected to Trina Tahir, who last week was identified as the target of an FBI inquiry in foreclosure documents filed by a bank.
Following agency policy, a local FBI spokesman would not confirm or deny the investigation.
Tahir said the foreclosures are a sham.
"We got somebody in cahoots with the bank trying to take our cemetery,” she told The Oklahoman earlier this week.
Niah Spriggs, one of Tahir’s daughters, said someone has been trying to buy the cemetery from the family since it opened and accused that person of working with a bank to orchestrate the foreclosure.
"We’re not losing this cemetery,” she said.
Tahir referred other questions to her attorney, Stephen Jones, who on Wednesday had no comment on the FBI investigation or Tahir’s real estate troubles. On Thursday, Jones withdrew as Tahir’s attorney in the foreclosure case. Again, he had no comment.
Tahir, who filed for bankruptcy last year, and her daughters said they are current with mortgage payments on the cemetery and the other properties foreclosed on in May.
Family’s dealings scrutinized
Tahir is a Realtor in the area with a history of foreclosures and real estate ethics complaints, according to court records and filings with the state Real Estate Commission.
The lender foreclosing on the cemetery and other Tahir properties, First National Bank and Trust, disclosed in a court filing last week that Tahir currently is under investigation by the FBI for possible mortgage improprieties.
The bank’s attorney, Bart Boren, said Wednesday that Jones informed him the FBI is investigating Tahir.
Trina Tahir filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year and claimed to have less than $10,000 in assets and up to $1 million of liabilities, according to her bankruptcy filing.
The properties foreclosed on in May were worth nearly $600,000. Tahir family members own other properties in northeast Oklahoma City, including a 2,900-square-foot house near the cemetery valued at about $312,000, according to Oklahoma County Assessor records.
Most Tahir family properties not currently owned by Trina Tahir were once owned by her before being transferred to other family members, according to assessor records.
The FBI mortgage impropriety investigation "may include the transfer of various properties” to other owners, according to the bank’s filing.
‘Thought it would be a nice place’
When Clarence Scales died June 30, his sister, Linda Johnson, bought a plot at Riverside Gardens because he had wanted to be buried in Oklahoma City. Scales, who was from Idabel, was buried July 7. Johnson said she paid $1,250 for his grave plot.
"It’s hard for me to imagine they were selling property while knowing they were in foreclosure,” said John Temple, owner of the funeral home that handled Scales’ services. "They were just doing it for, I guess, the income.”
Temple also said he didn’t know the cemetery was in foreclosure when Scales was buried.
Spriggs said the land is zoned to be a cemetery and nothing will happen to bodies if it is sold.
Several other graves are scattered across the 40-acre cemetery, which sits along the North Canadian River. The land is mostly barren, with few trees and little landscaping. The cemetery opened only two years ago.
Riverside Gardens was on the auction block last week, but Oklahoma County District Judge Patricia Parrish delayed the auction because of problems with the description of the property in an auction notice. A hearing is set for Aug. 28.
Tahir’s daughter, Saffiyah Tahir, said the family plans to buy back the cemetery. Like her mother, Saffiyah Tahir repeatedly denied the foreclosures are legitimate.
"This was just a personal vendetta of the bank,” the daughter said.

 

Sources:  good faith fair use of sources stated above

Compiled, transcribed and submitted by Marti Graham, Oklahoma County, OKGenWeb Coordinator, September 2009. Information posted for educational purposes for viewers and researchers. The contributor is not related to nor researching any of the above.

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