LATROBE, Pa. — Pet owners of an alleged cremation scam shared their stories, shed some tears and grieved together Sunday evening so that they can hopefully start to heal.
“This is Gotti,” one woman said.
Another woman said, “This is Tinkerbell.”
One by one, people talked about their fur babies, and once again, cried and mourned their losses.
“This is Buddy,” a woman said through tears. “This is killing me. He threw my baby in the garbage.”
The pain became more unbearable after Tiffany Mantzouridis, a former employee of Eternity Pet Memorial, helped bring the disturbing allegations to light last month.
“It’s hard for me to process how somebody could do that because I got into this because I’m an empathetic person and I ended up in a position working for somebody who is the complete opposite of that,” Mantzouridis said.
Eternity Pet Memorial Owner Patrick Vereb is accused of scamming people who paid for pet cremations and burials. Instead, the AG’s office said he threw more than 6,500 pets into landfills then gave owners ashes from other animals.
Pattie Levay cremated at least 11 dogs through Vereb from 2021 to 2024, the time period of the investigation. She believes 25 of her dogs could be in landfills.
“The first three days, I would have nightmares that they were trying to get out of the landfill, and I would see the bulldozer coming and just bulldoze them down and hear their screams,” Levay said.
Levay organized Sunday’s memorial to honor all the lost pets and try to give their owners closure.
“My whole life has been dedicated to animals and knowing that I failed them, that I failed them so horrendously that they ended up in landfills, and this is why I’m doing this because I need help with my healing,” Levay said, choking back tears.
Heather Sphar of Charleroi said the ashes she has do not belong to her beloved Trixie.
“That’s not her. I got the email saying that that’s not her,” Sphar said. “Heartbroken, sad, emotional. You do it because you want their remains to be with you the rest of your life and knowing that I don’t have her just breaks my heart.”
Dozens of people came to the pavilion behind the Kingston Club for a pet blessing and to say goodbye one last time. Then, they sent bubbles up to their pets in heaven.
But what most of the pet owners want is to do right by their best friend.
“I’m angry because I don’t have her,” Sphar said. “We all want justice for what he has done, and I think he needs to rot in jail,”
Vereb is out on bail and is scheduled for an arraignment on June 18.
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