Former executive director of funeral directors’ group arrested

A former executive director of the North Carolina Funeral Directors Association has been charged with illegally getting mileage reimbursements for travel while using an association-issued credit card to buy gas for his car.

In an arrest warrant obtained Feb. 18, Raleigh police Detective R.C. Bargfrede charged Larry Foster Stegall, 74, of Wake Forest with one felony count of obtaining property by false pretenses.

The charge states that between April 1, 2009 and July 31, 2014, Stegall improperly was paid $11,531.66 for travel.

Stegall got the money “for mileage traveled at the same time he was using the company gas card to put fuel in his car for the same associated travel expenses,” the warrant alleged.

Stegall surrendered to detectives Feb. 19 and was cooperative while being booked on the charge, a magistrate wrote in allowing Stegall to be released on an unsecured $10,000 bond. He was scheduled to appear before a judge on Monday.

Police were alerted in September 2015 after accounting at the association raised issues, police spokeswoman Laura Hourigan said.

Stegall was executive director of the association from 1979 to 2014, according to the group’s website.

He told the board of directors in 2013 that he planned to retire, according to memo from the board’s succession committee to the membership soliciting candidates to replace Stegall.

On May 29, 2014, Stegall thanked the organization’s directors and members for his time as director.

“This letter has been 35 years in the making, and I now find myself at a loss for adequate words to express my true appreciation,” Stegall wrote.

This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Former executive director of funeral directors’ group arrested."