Thursday afternoon, former educator James Sirmans, who had been convicted of insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud in connection with a death certificate falsification scheme dating back to the 2022 death of a relative, was sentenced in Coffee County Superior Court.
Sirmans was sentenced to 10 years probation. He had petitioned the court for first offender status. That, however, was denied.
Sirmans was convicted earlier this month of the aforementioned charges. Sirmans, along with former funeral home director Chris Johnson, were indicted on the charges nearly a year and a half ago. Johnson has been in jail since October of 2024 after 18 decomposing bodies were found in his funeral home, Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services.
Prior to the bodies being found in the funeral home, Johnson had been under investigation for allegedly changing the cause of death on a death certificate. Johnson allegedly changed the cause of death in order to receive a larger insurance payout.
On July 29, 2022, Jessie Williams, a cousin of Sirmans, passed away after a battle with cancer. Sirmans had taken out an insurance policy on Williams and stood to receive a $100,000 death benefit if Williams passed away due to an accident and not cancer.
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 with 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.
Johnson has not been tried for any of his alleged crimes and remains in the Coffee County Jail.
