“Activist” took pics of 16yo girl’s nude, dead body in Indy funeral home

HELP SUPPORT INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM BY BECOMING A SUBSCRIBING MEMBER. YOU CAN ALSO MAKE A ONE TIME DONATION HERE.

REAL News has confirmed local “activist” and career felon, Vernado Malone, gained access to ANOTHER funeral home in which he has been taking and sharing nude pictures of the recently deceased. This time the funeral home is Rawls Mortuary located in Indianapolis. It turns out, some of the pictures he has taken include the nude body of a 16-year-old girl. Sources who used to work with Malone confirmed his possession of the photographs and the identity of the child. While RNM can confirm the child was from Mishawaka, in order to protect her and her family’s privacy, we will not be naming her in this story.

“I’ve been working on Malone and his propence toward taking photos of deceased nude people for several years now.” Private Investigator and retired Commander of the St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit, Tim Corbett, said. “The case involving the child has recently been turned over to the state’s attorney’s office who, to my knowledge, is now investigating it.”

Last summer, Malone settled two cases with families of individuals who he had taken nude pictures of at Alford’s Mortuary in South Bend. That case was exposed in an investigative piece by REAL News Michiana in March of 2021. Alford’s Mortuary also settled cases with the two families. Further, an investigation by the Indiana Attorney General’s Office resulted in the funeral home’s director/owner, Donald Alford, losing his funeral license.

“Malone has been connected to a funeral home in South Bend as well as a funeral home in Indianapolis where he has had bodies from northern Indiana sent as part of his scam.” Corbett told REAL News.

Malone, who founded the non-profit “Justice for Michiana”, was using his non-profit as a way to gain access to bodies starting in 2020. Following several lawsuits, he rebranded “Justice for Michiana” — changing the name to “United as One”. Malone also started a partnership with another funeral home, this time Rawls Mortuary in Indianapolis. RNM has confirmed the Indiana Attorney General’s Office is currently investigating Rawls Mortuary at this time as well.

“Malone will often change the name of his organization once it is revealed for exactly what it is, a scam.” Corbett said. “He takes advantage of people who don’t believe they have the ability to pay for funeral expenses. They are at their lowest and most vulnerable point because they just lost a loved one. Malone is a ghoul.”

BACKGROUND

In March of 2021, RNM published a story outlining how Vernado Malone, a convicted felon and the owner and founder of the Justice for Michiana non-profit, was taking the full-body nude pictures at Alford’s Mortuary then showing them to random members of the public. Malone’s Justice for Michiana organization, which was funded by the City of South Bend, claimed to be assisting families of homicide victims with funeral costs. RNM has interviewed dozens of people who were shown pictures of nude corpses. 

Lawsuits against Malone and Alford’s, which were filed nearly a year after RNM’s initial investigation was published, outline the partnership between Malone and Alford’s Mortuary, claiming Malone would solicit families to use the local funeral home while presenting himself as a representative of the business.

“Defendant Malone captured hundreds of lewd and illicit photographs of corpses
as they were being prepared for funerary services. These photographs include multiple
photographs of Mr. Garcia’s (deceased) body including explicit photographs of his exposed genitals.” One of the lawsuits states. “With the images stored on his personal cellular phone, Defendant Malone used the pictures as part of his sales pitch to grieving families as well as to other local funeral homes.”

“Defendant Malone also regularly showed these pictures to members of the public
and would make inappropriate sexual comments about the bodies of the deceased..” The lawsuit continues.

The lawsuits also describe Malone sharing the photographs with members of the public in a government office. RNM confirmed Malone showed several pictures to employees of the St. Joseph County Voter Registration Office. Malone frequently visited the office to have discussions with another member of his organization, Aisha Avance, who was also an employee of Voter Registration. Avance was aware of the pictures and did nothing to stop them from being disseminated throughout the government building.

Avance, using Justice for Michiana, went as far as filing for an erroneous protection order against RNM to prevent us from continuing our investigation. That order was eventually dismissed. RNM filed a lawsuit for the frivolous action taken by a government employee in an attempt to hide the corruption and potential crimes. That case was settled out of court.

SOUTH BEND GIVES TAX PAYER GRANT TO CONVICTED FELON

This is not the first time Malone is involved in illegal activity. Federal court records show Malone has a criminal record spanning more than a decade.

In 1999, Vernado Malone was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for credit card fraud. He was ordered to pay more than $17,000 in restitution.

In 2005, Vernado Malone was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and Aiding and Abetting Forfeiture Allegation. He was ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution.

In 2015, Vernado Malone was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for Mail Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft. He was ordered to pay more than $50,000 in restitution.

There are also several state level charges and convictions, including child molestation. Malone recently petitioned the court to expunge those records.

Despite all of that, the City of South Bend awarded Malone with $7,000 in taxpayer money as part of the “Alive grant.”

According to the city’s website, the “Alive grant program is part of the City’s ongoing efforts to reduce incidents of gun violence in the community and provide constructive initiatives for South Bend’s young people.”

Attached is Malone’s grant application and the City’s award.

Justice-For-Michiana-ApplicationDownload

SB-Alive-Response-Letter_RCD2_VMaloneSr_JFMDownload

In 2021, RNM reached out to Mayor James Mueller himself, who had the city’s director of communications, Caleb Bauer, respond. The city had 3 days to come up with the following statement.

“The South Bend Alive Grant Program was developed to support community-based initiatives that work to reduce incidents of gun violence in South Bend. Applicants were required to complete a narrative grant application describing their plans for prospective programming and submit a budget form detailing how grant funds would be utilized.

Recipients are required to provide quarterly updates on their programs and measurable data to the Office of Community Initiatives for review.

Grant recipients have agreed to comply with all federal, state and local laws, rules, regulations and ordinances. A grantee who violated any laws would also be in violation of the program agreement and could be subject to litigation.”

RNM asked Bauer if the city knew about Vernado Malone’s criminal record and if the city did background checks on the applicants. Bauer did not respond.

However, Malone is not the only criminal the city handed taxpayer dollars over to. RNM’s investigations into the Alive Grant and its awardees have lead to the discovery of several other potential criminal acts.

RNM discovered the city changed the name on one grant to give money to a friend of the Director of Community Initiatives, Maurice Scott. A notice of tort was issued in that case. You can read all about that here.

Another awardee, Wright Chosen Ministries and its founder Lori Wright, is accused of taking food stamps from homeless families and selling them to a woman in Louisiana. You can read more about that story here.

RNM discovered the city gave thousands of dollars to a convicted murderer who had been out of prison for less than a year. You can read about that here.

The city also gave grant money to a federally convicted armed robber.

REAL News Michiana relies on member subscribers to keep going. As a subscriber, you’ll get an RNM mug and invites to special events. Help us continue to expose corruption and report on the news conservatives care about by subscribing here.