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san antonio – UPDATE (March 16, 2024, 2:48 p.m.): The owner of San Antonio funeral headstone company Angelic Monuments is now in the custody of San Antonio Police.
Authorities announced Saturday that an arrest warrant had been executed for Angelique Monument owner Elena Moreno.
In previous reporting on KSAT, Mr. Moreno was accused of failing to provide a headstone that the customer claimed had paid for in full.
San Antonio police said the warrant that led to Moreno’s arrest involved a family that paid Angelique Monument about $8,000 for a headstone.
Moreno was formally charged with theft between $2,500 and $30,000, which is considered a felony.
As Moreno was being led into a San Antonio police vehicle, reporters asked him if the theft charges were accurate.
“We didn’t do that,” Moreno said.
SAPD said the incident is currently under investigation.
Saturday’s press conference can be viewed in the video player above.
The following is the original story from March 6, 2024.
In late February, KSAT reported the story of a group of families who said the owners of the Angélique Monument never delivered the tombstones they ordered for their loved ones, even though they received the money.
After the article aired, more families came forward and said the same thing had happened to them, but no one had been able to contact the company’s owner, Elena Moreno.
“It’s painful to visit him. He has no stones,” Veronica Sanchez said through tears.
Sanchez lost his father in September 2022.
In February 2023, she paid $4,252 to order his headstone through Angelique Monument.
“She sketched it exactly how we wanted it. She was very kind,” Sanchez said.
But three months after the payment, Sanchez was unable to contact Moreno.
Six months later, Moreno called Sanchez and told him that he had to close the store due to personal reasons.
“I felt bad, so I said, ‘I’m sorry.’ But that had nothing to do with my contract. And from that point on, we never heard from her.” said Sanchez.
More than a year has passed since Sanchez ordered the headstone.
Sanchez is one of six new families who contacted KSAT about their loved one’s gravestone. Some people bought stones for themselves in preparation.
This follows KSAT’s initial report, which also included six other families who said they paid for headstones but never received them.
Through the paperwork process, KSAT confirmed that the new families who came forward spent a total of approximately $15,000.
Add to this the more than $26,000 paid by the first group of six families, and the total comes to about $40,000.
By the time KSAT’s first article was published, Moreno had deleted her Facebook page and three different phone numbers were either no longer working or unresponsive.
It now appears that the Facebook page is back up and running, as well as an active TikTok page.
After the first article was published, Sanchez said Moreno finally contacted her and gave her a new phone number and address for what she called her new business on Commercial Avenue.
“Because I was nagging her. I was calling her three, four, five times a day. I think she probably got tired of it,” Sanchez said.
But when Sanchez called the new number, Elena didn’t answer, and another woman didn’t answer the phone.
Sanchez said her sister later called the number and contacted Elena, who said she appeared to be back at work.
“She was very professional when it came to answering the phone. She said, ‘Yes, yes, I sell tombstones, but what are you looking for?'” Ms. Sanchez said.
Then her sister mentioned her father’s name and asked about his stone.
“From that point on, her behavior changed and my sister continued to hang up on me,” Sanchez said.
KSAT also decided to go to the new location during business hours. It was locked.
We called 3 times and left messages and they never returned.
The store name on the door is not Angelic Monuments. The company provides life insurance and funeral services. A putative business name certificate filed with the Bexar County Clerk’s Office shows the document was filed on February 24, 2024.
The company is not owned by Elena Moreno, but by another woman.
We have decided not to mention the name of the company at this time as we do not know how closely its owners are working with Moreno at this time.
KSAT was also unable to contact the business owner.
Several families have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau, which is now launching a formal investigation.
When the first story aired, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) had not yet begun a formal investigation.
When asked what changed, Jason Meza, BBB’s senior director of media relations, said, “It was prompted by the high volume of responses to our complaint review and response to the article on KSAT.”
Meza said the investigation will be serious and thorough and could take weeks or months.
“Everything we find in the information we compile, we put it on the BBB.org website so everyone can go and see what we know and what we’ve seen. ” he said.
This basically acts as a warning to other potential customers, but they end up handing over the results to law enforcement.
“We are not an enforcement agency. We are here to be an intermediary to establish communication,” Meza said.
If that message got to SAPD, they would already know that information.
Four families have already filed police reports against Moreno alleging theft, and two more have said they plan to do so.
“I’m going to keep fighting until I get my father’s stone or money back. My father doesn’t deserve this. No one deserves this. You know, any family goes through something like this. We shouldn’t,” Sanchez said.
SAPD confirmed that property theft detectives are actively investigating these cases. If enough evidence is found, a warrant may be issued.
Currently, Elena Moreno has not been charged with a crime, and KSAT has found no reports of a criminal history.
The BBB is asking anyone with information to report it.
More Angel Monument reports on KSAT.com
Copyright 2024 by KSAT – All rights reserved.
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