Eternity Pet Memorials

On October 22, 2026, Patrick Vereb Sr., owner of western Pennsylvania-based Eternity Pet Memorial, pleaded guilty to all charges regarding theft of more than $650,000 from customers who paid for pet burial and cremation services between 2021 and 2024. Also Thursday, Vereb’s bail was revoked and he was committed to the jail.

On January 21, 2027, Vereb, 72, will be sentenced on all charges, including the lead felony — first-degree theft by deception — following a sentencing hearing.

Vereb was charged last year with improper disposal of thousands of dogs and cats for which owners paid for cremations, burials, returns of ashes, and other services. According to the Office of Attorney General investigation, Vereb took money in exchange for private cremation services, then disposed of many of the pets at a landfill and provided customers with ashes of other, unknown animals.

Nearly a dozen veterinary practices and businesses worked with the Office of Attorney General to confirm that Vereb collected more than $650,000 in fees from pet owners who were promised a private cremation for their pet, but did not receive the actual ashes of their pet. Eternity Pet Memorial received the pets directly from consumers or through area veterinarians. More than 6,500 victims from Allegheny, Armstrong, Washington, and Westmoreland counties were identified.

“As a pet owner, I know that losing a pet is like losing a family member, and the defendant’s conduct, without a doubt, worsened that pain for these victims,” Attorney General Sunday. “No sentence can alleviate the grief and heartache that has been caused here, but our hope is this felony conviction provides a measure of closure as it involves the defendant taking responsibility and admitting to what he did.”

We have compiled every single victim impact statement that was provided to the Attorney General’s Office through our website. If you have already submitted a victim impact statement, you do not need to do anything else. If you have not yet submitted a victim impact statement and wish to provide a statement, please fill out the form below. Every victim impact statement will be provided to the Judge and defense counsel for the Court to consider at the time of sentencing.

Due to the large number of victims and the very limited space in the courtroom, we have actively requested written victim impact statements since the start of this case so that your words will be heard and considered by the Court. We thank the thousands and thousands of you who have provided thoughtful statements.

We have also compiled restitution information for this case. Restitution is the dollar amount of financial loss suffered by each victim that we were able to identify and confirm based upon the records and evidence that were acquired in this investigation. We will request that the defendant is ordered to pay restitution as a part of his final sentence.