Director Michael Naughton, Arrested
Camelot Funeral Home, located at 174 Stevens Avenue in Mount Vernon, New York, has long served Westchester County families but is now at the center of a disturbing scandal involving unlicensed operations and the mishandling of human remains, with director, Michael Naughton, 55, of Baldwin, Long Island, arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for operating as a funeral director without a license.
The saga began years earlier. Naughton’s funeral director license was revoked by the state in 2019. He had previously operated Naughton Bros. Funeral Home in Brooklyn from 2009 to 2018. Camelot itself faced multiple closures: it shut down in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, briefly reopened, and was closed again by state authorities in May 2025 due to licensing violations. Despite these actions, the facility allegedly continued operating. Naughton admitted to investigators that Camelot handled more than 20 funerals since August 2025, even after the latest shutdown.
A routine administrative inspection by the New York State Department of Health in late January or early February 2026 uncovered horrifying conditions. Officials found 13 decomposing bodies in various states of decay scattered throughout the building—in the chapel rooms, preservation room, hallway, and garage (where two were stacked together under tarps or drop cloths). Another 17 boxes of labeled cremated remains were discovered in the basement. Shockingly, none of the bodies had accompanying death certificates. The Westchester County Medical Examiner’s Office removed the remains, and the state Attorney General’s Office launched an investigation to return them to families.
Naughton was arrested shortly after the inspection and pleaded not guilty on February 4, 2026, in Mount Vernon City Court. He was released without bail and is scheduled to return to court on February 19. In statements to media, he expressed shock at the arrest and claimed he was trying to assist affected families while awaiting counsel. Court records also reveal over $50,000 in unpaid judgments against Camelot in recent years, including labor violations and a lawsuit from a family over unrefunded prepaid funeral funds.
The case has devastated local families. Aloma Washington, whose 74-year-old mother Estella died on November 25, 2025, held services at Camelot but never received her remains. Naughton had reassured her, “Mom will be safe here with me.” Washington later questioned what might have happened, noting the timeline overlap with the license revocation and ongoing operations.
The New York Attorney General’s Office has urged impacted families to contact camelot.complaint@ag.ny.gov. As the investigation continues—with follow-up searches by the AG, county police, and Mount Vernon authorities—the incident raises serious questions about oversight in the funeral industry and the vulnerability of grieving families. Camelot Funeral Home, once a place of solace, now symbolizes profound betrayal and regulatory failure in Mount Vernon.
Michael Naughton pleaded not guilty to one count of operating the home without a license, and told News 12 that “Everything’s still premature,” Naughton said.
We don’t agree with Naughton, and hope that the DA or someone in law enforcement can find more than a misdemeanor charge against him, for betraying the trust of many Mt. Vernon families.
For decades, Camelot Funeral Home served the Mount Vernon community. When it first opened, it was a Black-owned, licensed funeral parlor that laid countless loved ones to rest. Generations of families trusted Camelot during their most difficult moments.
And that is why several Mt. Vernon families kept coming back, because like my family, we always used the same local funeral home for decades.
We wonder if any civil actions can be taken by family members against Naughton.
