Widower Says Family Friend Stole Money Intended For Funeral Costs

A Whitesboro man who recently lost his wife to leukemia says a family 'friend' who started a collection to help with funeral costs allegedly kept most of the money for herself. 

Jeremy Harber joined the Keeler in the Morning Show to share his story, saying he feels the so called 'friend' has violated the memory of his wife - Amy Morrissey, who lost her battle with leukemia this past July.

Harber explains that he was unaware that a page had been setup on a crowd sourcing page YouCaring - which is intended to be a source to raise monies for memorials or medical costs, among other things.

He says this family friend presented him with a check for $1,000 the day of his wife's wake. It was much appreciated and Harber was thankful to have some help with offsetting expenses, he said. But those feelings turned to anger when he later learned the page had actually collected some $4,500 in his wife's name, and that it appeared this 'friend' had kept much of the money for herself.

Harber says after getting the run-around from the woman who setup the page - being told several times that the check for the remaining funds was 'in the mail', and then being given a fake phone number - he was finally able to contact the YouCaring service which informed him that all of the $4,500 collected had already been distributed to the so-called friend of his wife.

While sharing his story with us, Harber directed us to a recently published news article from WKTV in regards to the arrest of Rochelle Bulinski on a felony charge of attempt to defraud. Harber says that arrest stemmed for his complaint to police regarding the matter.

As he and his children continue to heal from the loss of their wife and mother, Harber recalled Amy as ''unique, beautiful and brave,'' adding, ''I will fight for here to make sure she gets justice.''

Bulinski was issued an appearance ticket and is due to answer the charge at a future date, according to the article from WKTV.