Grave mistake? Cemetery stirs controversy amid price inconsistencies

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Pictured is the sign at the San Benito Historic City Cemetery.
(Staff photo by Freddy Jimenez)

By DAVID LOPEZ
editor@sbnewspaper.com

Resident April Flores is asking the City of San Benito for a refund after discovering the City might have overcharged her for her son’s burial in December 2018.

Flores’s son, Ricardo Treviño III, was shot and killed by San Benito Police after a high-speed chase in December of 2018.

Flores buried Treviño in the San Benito Historic City Cemetery, also knows as “El Nopal,” in December 2018. Flores was charged $950 for the plot plus $450 for the inner lining.

“I should have been charged $250 for the plot, and I should have been offered the choice of selecting the inner lining, which was required in the Memorial Park Cemetery but not in the old,” Flores said.

Resident Ben Cortez was contracted by Flores to investigate the costs of the plot. In an email sent by Cortez to San Benito City Manager Manuel De La Rosa, Cortez states that he requested a copy of the ordinance detailing cemetery costs in 2018 only to be told that the ordinance was lost.

Tracing back the city announcements to 2018, Cortez found that the burial plot costs for “El Nopal” were $250 per space for San Benito residents while the price for the San Benito Memorial Park Cemetery is $950 per space.

In an email to the NEWS, City Manager Manuel De La Rosa said he is currently unable to respond as he has not been provided any information by Flores.

“I will be meeting with Mrs. Flores in the near future,” he wrote.

“The El Nopal cemetery has been closed since October 2015, and some burials have occurred on a case-by-case basis,” he continued.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited for length. To read the full story, click here or make sure to grab a copy of the March 6 –12, 2020 issue of the NEWS.


Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2020/03/05/grave-mistake-cemetery-stirs-controversy-amid-price-inconsistencies/

2 comments

    • Memo RODRIGUEZ on March 6, 2020 at 6:50 am
    • Reply

    This lady is only requesting her overcharged money be returned to her. Anyone and everyone would be doing the same thing.

    • Fed up on March 5, 2020 at 7:56 pm
    • Reply

    Omg is this lady still trying to make money off her son’s death?! What a joke! I’m sure the poor kid is turning in his grave. And the moron she “contracted” shows they’re all crooked as can be. He needs money to pay the lawsuits he lost with his constant lies

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