CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — James “Jimmy” Altmeyer Jr., owner and president of Dignity Funeral Services, parent company of Oman Funeral Home, responded Thursday to a WAVY investigation showing bodies being transferred from an adjacent garage to the funeral home for cremation. In addition, the land beneath the garage is not zoned for funeral operations.

Video shows the bodies being loaded into a van, and then moved from the garage to the funeral home just this past weekend, but the garage has been used for that purpose for nearly two years.

Altmeyer explained why the extra space was necessary.

“When COVID came, it put a lot of pressure on funeral homes, hospitals, medical examiners’ offices, and what I did was I made sure that we had outstanding care for the families we serve,” he said.

Altmeyer began with a temporary cooling system for a few weeks, and then installed a $60 thousand refrigeration system in the Spring of 2022. He says it’s state of the art and meets all regulations, including keeping the temperature at 40 degrees or below as the code requires.
It has capacity for 28 bodies. Altmeyer says that added pressure from COVID didn’t decline until the beginning of 2023.

The garage and an adjacent home both sit on company land but is currently zoned residential.

When Dignity purchased the funeral home, house and garage from the family of former Mayor Sid Oman, Altmeyer says he was unaware that it wasn’t one single piece of property.

“What we needed to learn was that it is two different zones, because when we purchased the facility we just purchased the whole thing.”

Altmeyer says the rezoning process began about a year ago. Attorney Kim Shepherd of Troutman Pepper told the Planning Commission in October that she could guarantee the garage was not and would not be used for bodies. But in fact, it was, and had been for more than a year.

“I don’t believe that she intentionally misled the planning commission in any way. I think it was just a miscommunication between us and her. That’s my personal belief,” Altmeyer said, and confirmed that Shepherd continues to represent Dignity.

Funeral service has been in Atlmeyer’s family for generations. He says he will always stand by his own and his company’s reputation.

“We deliver exceptional service. We’re one of the highest rated funeral homes in the country. We’re rated in the top 15 funeral homes in the country, and being ranked in the top 15 in the country is not an easy thing to do,” Altmeyer said.

“Our first and foremost always is to treat people with dignity and respect.”

The garage housed no bodies Thursday. Altmeyer says it will remain empty until the land is properly re-zoned for commercial purposes.