Former Vereb Funeral Home in Harrison to become new location of local health clinic

A new business is set to operate out of the former Vereb Funeral Home in Harrison.

Allegheny Health and Physical Medicine will move into the facilty at 1007 Freeport Road.

The funeral home closed earlier this year just before its previous owner was accused by the state attorney general of defrauding more than 6,500 pet owners.

The health clinic, which offers chiropractic, massage and physical rehabilitation services, is currently located less than a half-mile away in Brackenridge.

Unrelated to the health care conglomerate Allegheny Health Network, the business is owned by husband and wife Zachary Smith and Dawn Spale, both chiropractic doctors. The clinic has been in Brackenridge for nearly nine years.

Spale said the clinic required more space and better parking, which she found in the former funeral home.

The couple signed the sales agreement in early 2025 before news broke about Patrick Vereb’s alleged pet cremation and burial scam. They closed on the building in August for $950,000.

The state Attorney General’s Office charged Vereb, 70, of Hazelwood in April with the theft of almost $660,000 after taking money for pet cremations but disposing of the animals in landfills and also giving customers ashes that weren’t from their pets.

Several former customers have since filed a class-action lawsuit against Vereb. He is awaiting a non-jury criminal trial, set for Jan. 22.

“We were just as shocked as everyone else,” Spale said.

In the months following the scandal, Spale was concerned about the allegations but opted to move forward with the move.

She said she expects the first operations at the business to begin in early November, with a grand opening in early December.

“We want it to be a positive place in the community, a place of health and healing,” Spale said.

The couple also operates another office in Buffalo Township.

Vereb bought the property in 2023 for $400,000 and opened it in 2024 after renovations.

Allegheny County real estate records show that Vereb still owns a former funeral home in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood.