Earlier this week, a Coffee County Grand Jury handed down a 66-count indictment against Chris Johnson, the former funeral director who stands accused of numerous felonies in connection with the discovery of 18 decomposing bodies in his funeral home, Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services, in October. Johnson was arrested and charged for 17 of the 18 bodies found.
The 66 counts include four indictments in another case involving the operations of the funeral home, this one for allegedly changing the cause of death for an individual back in 2022. The reason for the alleged forgery was to obtain a greater insurance payout. Johnson, along with former Ben Hill County educator James Sirmans, was indicted in connection with this case.
Both Sirmans and Johnson were indicted on conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and insurance fraud charges. Johnson was also indicted on one count of forgery for allegedly altering the death certificate and one count of vital records registration for allegedly providing a false cause of death in the forgery case.
All told, Johnson has been indicted on 66 total counts while Sirmans, whose nephew was the deceased in the forgery case, faces indictments on two counts.
The larger indictment involves the 17 deceased and their families, and up to five charges per individual case. However, not all the individual cases have all five charges attached. The charges are abusing a dead body, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception, insurance fraud, and violation of vital records registration. Exactly how many charges are connected to an individual case depend upon how Johnson handled the arrangements and filing of the death certificates; all, however, involve abuse of a dead body and abandonment of a dead body. Only one case has all five charges attached.
Here are the individual cases along with their accompanying indictments:
Individual 1: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception, and violation of vital records registration
Individual 2: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception
Individual 3: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception
Individual 4: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception, and violation of vital records registration
Individual 5: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, and theft by deception
Individual 6: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception, and violation of vital records registration
Individual 7: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception, and violation of vital records registration
Individual 8: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception, and violation of vital records registration
Individual 9: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception, and violation of vital records registration
Individual 10: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception (two counts)
Individual 11: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, and theft by deception
Individual 12: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, and theft by deception
Individual 13: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception, and violation of vital records registration
Individual 14: Dead body abuse, theft by deception, and abandonment of a dead body
Individual 15: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, violation of vital records registration, theft by deception, and insurance fraud
Individual 16: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, and theft by deception
Individual 17: Dead body abuse, abandonment of a dead body, theft by deception, and violation of vital records registration
After handing down these indictments, the Grand Jury wasn’t done with Johnson. There is the matter of the separate case that goes back to 2022 involving allegations of forging a death certificate in order to receive an insurance payout.
The deceased in this case is Jessie Williams, who passed away on July 29, 2022, after a battle with cancer. A cousin, James Sirmans, a Douglas native who now lives in Fitzgerald, had taken out an insurance policy on Williams. Sirmans stood to receive a $9,000 death benefit if Williams passed away due to an accident and not cancer, according to testimony given in Chris Johnson’s bond hearing earlier this month.
In order to receive the payout, Sirmans and Johnson allegedly conspired to change the cause of death to blunt force trauma as a result of a bicycle accident. Sirmans was indicted for insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud in connection to this incident.
Johnson was indicted on those two charges as well as forgery in the first degree and violation of vital records registration. According to the indictment, Johnson changed Williams’s cause of death to accidental and prepared a death certificate stating as such.
Sirmans was initially arrested on Friday, December 6, 2024, and released on bond. Johnson was arrested on October 27, 2024, and has remained in custody ever since.