A Greensburg attorney has been named in a federal criminal complaint that accuses him of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Paul J. Elias, of Jeannette, is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, in relation to Celestial Burial Case, a business that provides funeral merchandise and services.

Mr. Elias, who served as legal counsel for the company -- which did business under several names, including Keystone Family Services Inc. and Angel Arms Casket Co. Inc. -- was also made the secretary in January 2002.

In addition to his private law practice, Mr. Elias serves as an assistant Westmoreland County solicitor.

State corporate records list Celestial's registered office in Greensburg, but its main office is listed in Monroeville.

According to the criminal information, the company sold caskets, burial vaults and other merchandise to people, primarily senior citizens.

Under state law, such businesses are required to deposit 70 percent of funds received on pre-need planning into trust accounts to be held until the customer has died and the merchandise is delivered.

But in Celestial's case, according to the U.S. attorney's office, that wasn't happening.

The company first found itself in trouble in October 2001, when the West Virginia attorney general filed a complaint against it, alleging violations related to the sale of pre-need funeral contracts.

At the time, Mr. Elias signed an agreement that would require the company to follow the law to settle the complaint.

But in August 2004, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office filed another complaint against Celestial. Again, Mr. Elias signed a consent decree to settle the matter. As part of the agreement, the company said it would no longer sell or advertise pre-need merchandise or services. In addition, it was not to accept any additional payments from customers with existing pre-need contracts.

According to the criminal complaint, however, the company continued to do business in violation of that agreement.

Specifically, Mr. Elias is charged with depositing checks payable to Celestial into accounts which he controlled -- including an attorney's trust account; an account in his and his wife's names; and into his attorney's account.

The money was then spent in some cases for his own personal use, the complaint alleges.

Though Celestial did business with more than 1,000 people who paid millions of dollars, "far less than $100,000" was ever put into a small number of the appropriate trust funds, the government alleges.

Yesterday, Mr. Elias said he couldn't comment on the charge.