The Family Burial & Cremation Center surrendered its license on Sept. 23, less than two weeks after a Sept. 2 inspection found serious problems at the facility. But the man who ran the business, Franklin Lambert, retains his embalmer's license — a fact that has left at least one grieving family demanding answers.

Janna Harberts' mother, Patricia Fay Kelly, died Sept. 2 at age 78. Kelly, a longtime seamstress in Florence, was a grandmother of 11 and great-grandmother of 14. Harberts arranged for her mother to be cremated at the Mesa facility. The same morning Kelly died, state inspectors were at the mortuary.

According to the inspection report, Lambert was the only employee on site that day. Investigators found a recently embalmed body lying fully nude on a metal table. They also discovered un-embalmed bodies left out in the prep room at 75 degrees — well above the required maximum of 38 degrees — apparently to make room in the cooler.

"My first reaction was, why was he even allowed to continue picking people up?" Harberts said. "Because that inspection was the day, the morning of my mom passing away, and he picked her up in the evening."

Harberts waited weeks for her mother's cremains. When she drove to the funeral home, she found it closed. "They were permanently closed, big red letters," she said. "And so, I'm freaking out, and I'm going, 'Now what?'"

It took a month and a half before she learned the business had shut down. She finally reached Lambert on Oct. 16, she said, after he told her on the 21st of the previous month that he had her mother back from the crematorium and was waiting on the death certificate.

The state's report documents problems dating back years. A November 2024 inspection revealed 12 violations, including a strong odor of decay, an embalmed body left uncovered, and plastic bottles piled between a decedent's legs. Records show the facility had not properly refrigerated and covered its dead since that time. An April 2026 survey found staff failed to verify ID tags and released the wrong cremains to one family. Investigators also found body donations in plastic bags stacked inside a casket.

Despite the violations, the facility continued to operate. Lambert's funeral director license was revoked in 2019, so ownership was transferred to his wife, Lisa Lambert. The state issued a notice of intent to revoke the mortuary's license by January 2026, but a year-long delay and a failed settlement conference followed.

Lisa Lambert signed a consent agreement surrendering the license on Sept. 23. She is barred from owning, operating, or working in the Arizona funeral industry for 10 years. Franklin Lambert, however, can continue to work as an embalmer.

His history with state regulators stretches back more than a decade. In 2011, his cremationist license was revoked after an investigation into his former crematory found unrefrigerated bodies and collapsed containers of human remains. In 2015, the now-defunct State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers documented gurneys stacked with bodies left out of refrigeration at a mortuary where Franklin Lambert worked. Lambert later filed a 2017 civil lawsuit accusing the state of trying to ruin his business; both parties agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice.

The Department of Health Services, which took over oversight of funeral establishments from the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers in June 2023, declined to comment on potential enforcement against Lambert's individual license. A spokesperson said any action would be posted on AZ Care Check.

"It's been a very emotional rollercoaster, everything from fear to anger to just violated, trust violated," Harberts said. "I want answers."