A judge has upheld the state's suspension of a Norfolk funeral home owner's license.
Norfolk Circuit Judge Karen J. Burrell ruled last week that evidence supported the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers' decision in March to suspend Carlos Howard's license.
The board determined that Howard gave a box to a funeral home in Philadelphia with instructions to give it to a deceased person's family. The instructions implied that the box contained personal effects. But it contained the person's internal organs.
Howard tells The Virginian-Pilot that the accusations are false. He says some of his competitors are members of the board.
The board also shut down Carlos A. Howard Funeral Home. Its order stipulated that the funeral home could reopen with a new manager approved by the board.
