A Five Points mortuary has stopped performing funerals, as of today, while the state investigates its operations and reviews a late-filled license application.
Chris Lines, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, said today the state’s review of Pipkin Mortuary could be released by the end of the week.
Last week, the state agency ordered the 32-year-old funeral home at at 2531 Ogden St. to “cease and desist” funeral operations when its pending contracts expired as of Tuesday.
The funeral home came under scrutiny after it mistakenly buried the body of Imogene Jackson in a casket that should have held Evelyn Jackson on Jan. 29.
DORA then discovered that Pipkin was in violation of a regulation that required all Colorado funeral homes to register by Jan. 1.
Pipkin Mortuary’s business office was open Wednesday, but owner Joseph Mark Pipkin did not immediately return a phone call from a Denver Post reporter.
Pipkin issued a written statement on Feb. 1, the day it received the state order, apologizing to the families involved in the mix-up.
The statement said, “As a result of this incident, we have commenced an extensive review of our internal procedures to prevent an incident like this from occurring in the future. We have no doubt that our review will produce material changes to our internal procedures that will aid Pipkin Mortuary’s service to our community.”
