A former funeral director accused of swindling money from families and providing makeshift services has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and must pay $4,500 in restitution to Dean-Lopez Funeral Home.

John Peffer, 41, former head of the funeral home's Big Pine Key office, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to lesser charges in an agreement with prosecutors: three counts of practicing funeral directing without a license, one count of an organized scheme to defraud and counterfeiting a funeral transit permit.

After he completes his sentence in Florida, he will be extradited to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to face charges of rape and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, which were levied while Peffer was out of Monroe County jail on bond, Assistant State Attorney Joe Spataro said.

There he faces six counts of raping a young girl, three of kidnapping, three of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, one of possession of a nude minor performance/material, one of attempting to corrupt with drugs and one of drug possession, according to the Clerk of Court's Office.

Locally, Peffer initially was charged with four counts of practicing funeral directing without a license, four counts of using the title of a funeral director without a license, four counts of grand theft and two counts of obtaining property by fraud.

After Peffer was among those laid off from Dean-Lopez in October 2006, he had the funeral home's calls forwarded to his cell phone and continued doing business as Paradise Mortuary -- illegally, as he is not a licensed funeral director, authorities say.

Authorities investigated four cases in which Peffer took money for funeral services from grieving families, yet did not file any paperwork with Dean-Lopez for the burial or cremation. To cut his expenses, Peffer told families the Sheriff's Office no longer gave funeral escorts, then drove the bodies to the cemetery himself in a white Chevrolet Suburban and had his girlfriend conduct the graveside services instead of a priest. He also failed to apply makeup on one deceased woman who had an open casket funeral, reports say.

"He tried to cremate two bodies in Miami and that's how he was caught," Spataro said. "The crematorium didn't recognize the funeral parlor he created, checked with the state and they never heard of him."

After Peffer posted bond in Monroe County, he fled to Ohio. In 2007, his ex-wife in Ohio called detectives to say he was in town. A call to Crime Stoppers of the Florida Keys provided an address in Ohio, where Peffer was arrested.

alinhardt@keysnews.com