AP Exclusive: Worker who exposed Ill. cemetery scandal says he spoke out over job threats

Ill. cemetery worker says threat led him to inform

ALSIP, Ill. — A gravedigger who helped expose an alleged scheme to dig up graves and resell plots at a suburban Chicago cemetery says he only spoke up after a co-worker warned him to keep his mouth shut or risk losing his job.

Willie Esper told The Associated Press on Monday that he told a supervisor at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip that he spotted bones while practicing digging graves.

He says he wasn’t going to push the issue until a co-worker asked him how he would feed his young son without a job. Esper says he got mad and started talking within earshot of a colleague he knew would spread the word.

Esper’s version of events is fairly consistent with what prosecutors have said in court documents. Four people are charged in the case.