POCATELLO — It appears Lance Peck will soon plead guilty to six of the 22 felonies he faced in connection to his operation of the now-demolished Downard Funeral Home where a dozen bodies in various stages of decomposition were found in September 2021.
Peck, through his Pocatello attorney Richard Blok, tentatively agreed to a binding agreement with the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office on May 16, according to court records the Idaho State Journal recently obtained.
The plea agreement involves Peck pleading guilty to one count each of income tax evasion, perjury, offering a false or forged instrument for records, fraud by computer, grand theft by deception and furnishing false information that affects an Idaho Vital Statistics record, court documents show.
Further, Peck will plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of violating the Idaho Mortician’s Code of Conduct, according to court records.
The Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office told the Idaho State Journal on Wednesday this plea agreement was executed by the previous prosecutor Steve Herzog before he left office in January and that Peck will not have officially pleaded guilty until the agreement is accepted by 6th District Judge Javier Gabiola during a change of plea hearing set for June 9.
When reached for comment Wednesday evening, Herzog said, “Ultimately, the terms of the plea agreement are subject to the approval of the current leadership in the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office.”
If Gabiola accepts the plea, the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office has agreed to dismiss all remaining felony and misdemeanor charges that Peck faces, which includes 16 felonies and 62 misdemeanor charges.
Additionally, the plea agreement states that Peck cannot object to any victim impact statements related to any of the dismissed charges and that the prosecutor’s office will not present any victim impact statements from anybody that was not associated with the criminal charges filed against Peck.
The plea agreement also states Peck cannot object to reasonable restitution.
Moreover, the plea agreement requires the prosecutor’s office to limit the time it requests Peck spend in prison and demands Gabiola to impose a sentence no higher than the recommendation.
The plea agreement calls for prosecutors to recommend a unified prison term of 10 years of which only three years would be mandatory on four of the felony charges and a unified prison term of five years in which only three years would be mandatory on two of the felony charges. All of the prison terms would run concurrently, or the same time.
A mostly demolished Downard Funeral Home pictured in this 2023 Journal file photo.
This essentially means that Peck would likely only serve three years behind bars for his alleged mishandling of dozens of funeral and cremation services while operating Downward Funeral Home, which was demolished in 2023 and is now a parking lot for Pocatello High School students.
Alternatively, Gabiola could refuse to accept the plea agreement at which point Bannock County prosecutors and Blok could enter into a subsequent mediation process or Peck could elect to take his case to trial.
When reached Wednesday evening, Blok declined to comment until after the change of plea hearing on June 9.
Peck in October 2023 was charged with seven counts of grand theft by deception, five counts of furnishing false vital statistics information, four counts of income tax evasion, two counts of offering false records, two counts of computer fraud and two counts of perjury. Court documents allege he misrepresented remains to at least 25 families.
The charges followed investigations by the Pocatello Police Department, Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses and Idaho State Tax Commission.
Police tape cordons off Downard Funeral Home in Pocatello after officers executed a search warrant there in September 2021.
The felony charges were later enjoined with the 63 misdemeanor charges Peck has faced since he was first arrested in August 2022.
All charges stem from Peck’s operation of Downard between 2017 and 2021 and resulted from a Pocatello police investigation that revealed he had allegedly mishandled the remains and cremated remains of dozens of people whose families trusted him to provide funeral and cremation services.
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Peck was charged with 60 misdemeanor counts of unprofessional conduct by morticians, funeral directors or embalmers and three misdemeanor counts of petit theft in August 2022 after Pocatello police executed a search warrant at Downard Funeral Home in September 2021. This led to the discovery of 12 bodies in various stages of decomposition, approximately 50 fetuses in jars and dozens of unidentified cremated remains.
In addition to the felony and misdemeanor criminal charges, Peck faces numerous civil lawsuits related to his alleged mishandling of funeral and cremation services for local families. At least 15 families are currently suing Peck, according to court records.
If the plea agreement is rejected and Peck is instead convicted of all the current felony and misdemeanor charges filed against him Peck could have potentially spent the rest of his life in prison.
If all the sentences were ordered to be served consecutively, or one after another, Peck faces a maximum penalty of over 250 years in prison and a fine of up to $140,000.
(2) comments
so possibly he will only get 3 years for leaving bodies to rot,mixing up remains so families witll never be sure if they actually have their loved ones or some strangers remains!! Wow you know he had to have made some decent money in his "business" why didn't he hire helpers? How can the Judge reduce his sentence so much that it is hardly even a sentence? It's unbelievable! Almost as good as an Embezzler sentence.
Good ole boy justice in action. The Bannock County Prosecuting Attorney is a joke. When will the citizens of Bannock County realize that this office is corrupt? The PA picks and chooses what crimes he prefers to prosecute and which crimes he turns a blind eye to, or in this case a half-blind eye. A drunk driver would get more time than Peck. The reason this case had been drawn out is to allow emotions to cool and time to pass resulting is a lesser sentence. If you want justice go to a whorehouse, if you want to get f....d go to a courthouse. Presiding judge should null and void this plea arrangement. Johnson should resign.
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