BOSTON (AP) – State regulators handed a five-year license suspension to a Lawrence funeral director accused of unprofessional conduct and deceptive practices.

Derek A. Wallace, owner of the Hart-Wallace Funeral Home and part-owner of the Oceanside Funeral Home in Salisbury, lost his licenses as an embalmer and funeral director.

The Board of Regulation of Funeral Directors took the disciplinary action in a 53-page decision issued Tuesday.

The board found Wallace violated a number of board regulations and rules.

Wallace was criticized for his interactions with customers, including a case where he refused to complete funeral arrangements for a client because she had bought a lower-priced casket elsewhere. But he also drew criticism for his ownership of the Bayview Crematory in Seabrook, N.H.

The board found that Wallace had violated state regulations barring funeral directors from owning cemeteries or crematories.

The board also alleged that Wallace had tried to cover up his violation in September 2002 by selling his interest in the crematory to his mother while continuing to run it.

“The number of misrepresentations by Derek Wallace in connection with this dual ownership is staggering,” the board said in its ruling.

Wallace told The Boston Globe in an interview before the decision was handed down that a five-year suspension was totally unwarranted.

“I would be absolutely dumbfounded if they suspended my licenses for five years for these complaints,” he said. “That would be like having your house taken away because you’re late on a water bill.”

The newspaper couldn’t reach Wallace after the decision was formally released.

Wallace can appeal the board’s decision to the courts.