§ 3455 — Violations; prosecutions

§ 3455. Violations; prosecutions. 1. Any person who shall:\n (a) obtain or attempt to obtain or aid in obtaining any license or\ncertificate under this article by any false or fraudulent statement or\nrepresentation; or,\n (b) practice as a funeral director, undertaker or embalmer without\nhaving been issued a license or without having registered as required by\nthis article; or,\n (c) being a funeral director, undertaker, or embalmer, aid and abet an\nunlicensed person to practice funeral directing, undertaking, and\nembalming; or,\n (d) hold himself out as licensed or able to practice or as practicing\nor entitled to practice without conformity to the requirements of this\narticle; or,\n (e) otherwise violate or neglect to comply with any of the provisions\nof this article; or,\n (f) being a funeral director, undertaker or embalmer, or registered\nresident, knowingly give, sell, permit to be sold, offer for sale or\ndisplay for sale, other than for purposes within the general scope of\ntheir activities as a licensed funeral director, undertaker or embalmer,\nor registered resident, embalming fluid to another person with actual\nknowledge that such other person is not a licensed funeral director,\nundertaker or embalmer, or registered resident, or entity authorized to\nperform embalming activities under section thirty-four hundred twenty of\nthis article or activities described in article forty-two of this\nchapter; or\n (g) practice as a funeral director, undertaker or embalmer, while his\nlicense is revoked or suspended, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and\nshall, on conviction, for each and every offense be punished by a fine\nof not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars,\nor by imprisonment for a term of not less than thirty days and not more\nthan one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, and for a second\noffense shall be punishable by both such fine and imprisonment.\n 2. All courts of special sessions within their respective territorial\njurisdictions are hereby empowered to hear, try and determine such\ncrimes without indictment and to impose in full the punishments of fines\nand imprisonments herein prescribed.\n 3. The attorney general of the state shall have the power to prosecute\nin any county of the state any violation of this article; such\nprosecution may be instituted by him in his discretion or after\ncomplaint made to him by any person, provided, however, that nothing in\nthis section shall be interpreted to prevent or impede the prosecution\nof such proceedings by the district attorney of any county in which the\noffense is committed when such proceedings have been instituted by him.\n 4. (a) In any prosecution or hearing hereunder it shall be necessary\nto prove only a single act prohibited by law or a single holding out or\nattempt, without having to prove a general course of conduct, in order\nto constitute a violation.\n (b) The display, publication or dissemination by any person of an\nadvertisement, card, sign or any other representation bearing a name,\ndesignation or description as a practitioner of funeral directing,\nundertaking, or embalming, in any manner or by implication, shall be\npresumptive evidence of a holding out of such practice by such person.\n 5. All violations of this article when reported to the department and\nduly substantiated by affidavits, or other satisfactory evidence, shall\nbe investigated and, if the report is found to be substantiated, the\ndepartment shall report such violations to the attorney general and\nrequest prompt prosecution.\n