It comes on the heels of a law passed in 2020 that. The emotional, daylong hearing brought to a close a five-year legal odyssey that began when the FBI raided the funeral home in February 2018, following a Reuters investigation that found Sunset Mesa to be unlike any other business in the country. Market data provided by Factset. It described a body broker as a company that acquires dead bodies, dissects them and sells the parts for profit to medical researchers, training organizations and other buyers.. A human head and spine sold for $850, while a full pelvis all the way to the toes priced out at $2,850. Koch said she had sold a different batch a year prior, and they took the whole family to Disneyland in California on the gold that they cashed in, Escher said. Funeral Director Daily take: I have a hard time fathoming what may have went on at this funeral home. They are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. All rights reserved. Instead, the media was interested in the dark history behind the town's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. Peck was given another six months of probation. NBC10 . The Bailey-Kent Funeral Home was the only option given to her for cremation under a certain weight, she said. One of Hesss donors was Rex Dunlap, a frugal Coloradan battling brain cancer. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. In court on Tuesday, Hess declined to speak to the judge. The 20-year term was the maximum allowed under law. ", Tina Shanon, whose mother was dismembered against her will, told the court, "I've worn many masks to cover the pain. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. Donor Services has circulated a brochure that reads: Be a hero. Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. There are currently 350 funeral home listings for the state of Colorado and we provide all the cemetery information for the state as well. Hiring funeral directors: Do you look for IQ or EQ? She said, No, no, well take care of that first thing in the morning, recalled Eberspacher. In cases like Schum's, where a family did agree to donate a body part, Hess sold more than she had permission to. Her father, Alan Koch, ran the crematory, Hess said. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. In an interview in 2016, she described Donor Services as a small, family business. Two months later, after hearing nothing from Hess, Schum went to Sunset Mesa to retrieve her friend's ashes. Another alleged victim said her mothers body was desecrated. Take a look at some of Colorado's most notorious crimes. An indictment filed last week by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver alleges 43-year-old Megan Hess, of Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services, harvested body parts from hundreds of dead people without any authorization from their families. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. Jan 3 (Reuters) - A former Colorado funeral home owner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Tuesday for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 corpses and selling body. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. The Colorado Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration has no employees dedicated solely to it and an annual budget of less than $85,000. Below, find out where 25 of the most infamous crimes in history took place and what the locations are used for today. I know these are not his ashes because his body parts went all over the country, Hanson said. She said that one month she got about $40,000 from selling donated bodies. The recent parade of early deaths has hit close to home. The other nine were structured as nonprofits, including Donor Services the only broker Reuters could find that still doubles as a funeral home. GRAND JUNCTION A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in federal court. She was sold, embalmed and shipped out within just a few hours of her death, said Holloman. (William Woody, Special to the Colorado Sun), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, (720) 263-2338 Call, text, Signal or WhatsApp, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. The investigation of Kents funeral homes began in February after the sheriffs office received a complaint by a client regarding the handling of human remains. These people deserve to know why what was done to them was done to them. Seeing how this chapter is opening up again is incredible, its unbelievable. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems, said Steve Palmer, a funeral director in Cottonwood, Arizona, and former member of the policy board at the National Funeral Directors Association. Torsos are a popular specimen these days, she wrote. Staci Kent arrived to one of those death scenes without a body bag, which spurred an argument with authorities, the indictment notes. A A A Colorado-based funeral home director has been sentenced to 20 years in prison stemming from a litany of charges including fraud and illegally selling the body parts or bodies of approximately 500 individuals whose families did not consent to that practice. The state's Department of Regulatory Agencies. No such degree exists in the United States for morticians, veteran funeral directors say. Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images. Contact7 Chief Investigative Reporter Tony Kovaleski traveled to Montrose and talked to more than a half dozen family members now victims about what they describe as a scheme to profit from their pain. The federal case was triggered by a 2016-2018 Reuters investigative series about the sale of body parts in the United States, a virtually unregulated industry. A Colorado funeral home operator who was accused of selling and stealing body parts pleaded guilty to mail fraud on Tuesday, the US justice department . Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. Both Reh and Cavanagh said they want to get the ashes analyzed at the University of Colorado to see if they actually belong to their babies. Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors of Montrose handled the funeral . (Reuters) -A former Colorado funeral home owner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Tuesday for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 corpses and selling body parts. However, on Thursday, Colorado police arrested Shannon and Staci Kent after finding a decaying corpse in a funeral home they previously operated. Some former staff members of Sunset Mesa said they never heard Hess disclose to donors that the bodies would be sold for profit. No one returned her voicemails. Ducks, Used body bags, medical gloves and other surgical equipment with dried bodily fluid on them piled on the floor, Bodily fluids leaking out of a body bag containing an individual who had not been refrigerated, A container of animal remains leaking fluids, Several bodies in refrigeration wrapped in sheets or blankets without identifying tags or paperwork, An unmarked casket containing a stillborn infant that was abandoned, the suspension order states, Paperwork scattered several feet deep on the floor. Before he died in 2016, the 78-year-old retired contractor saved $200 on cremation by agreeing to pledge parts of his body to Donor Services. The lawsuit estimates the three were making $40,000 a month from the sale of body parts. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Funeral homes in Leadville and Gypsum are under criminal investigation after authorities this month found an unrefrigerated body, bags of unlabeled cremains, an abandoned stillborn infant and at least one instance in which a family received cremains for their stillborn child mixed with bits of adult body parts and metal fragments. But selling body parts such as heads, arms and spines which is what Hess did for use in research or education is not regulated by federal law. At the focal point of the FBI probe: funeral director Megan Hess, who did not return Fox News request for a comment. In at least dozens of instances, Hess and Koch did not follow family wishes, and neither discussed nor obtained authorization for Donor Services to transfer decedents' bodies or . and Cavanagh, Reh had an immensely difficult time reaching the Kents, the phone ringing unanswered for weeks. A grand jury indictment said that from 2010 through 2018, Hess and Koch offered to cremate bodies and provide the remains to families at a cost of $1,000 or more, but many of the cremations never occurred. Thats when E.W. In February 2018, Lina Cavanagh lost her baby at an advanced stage of pregnancy a loss that took its toll on her, both physically and emotionally. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. Details of Shannon Kents operations come on the heels of a Montrose funeral home that made international headlines in 2018 after an FBI raid and subsequent two-year investigation. Finally, after a month, she got Staci Kent on the phone and laid into her, asking why she hadnt heard anything about her sons cremains. According to High Country News, Hess was running the funeral home in conjunction with a non-profit called Donor Services Inc., through which she sold "donated" body parts to companies a practice referred to as body brokering. But days went by and she couldnt reach anyone. It is illegal to buy or sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant. State Bans Coroner Shannon Kent From Private Business After Remains, Waste Found At Home-Based Colorado Funeral Home December 3, 2020 / 7:33 AM / CBS Colorado Forty-fifth President and leading 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump has been exonerated of false claims from the radical left and the Biden administration that Trump was responsible for the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, due to a rollback. Its a profit business. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. A state investigation by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance now focuses on a Memphis funeral home that's also the focus of a Netflix reality show. Some of those family members are now questioning if the services were held free of charge while Donor Services sent some of the remains (body parts) to clients for payments without the knowledge and consent of family members. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Escher said Koch, who embalmed and dismembered bodies, pulled teeth from some of the corpses to extract the gold in crowns or fillings. A woman is among more than five dozen family members currently suing the family that operated the now shut-down Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, after finding out her husband's body parts had been sold without her consent. In 2018, Schum got a call from FBI Special Agent John Busch, who told her that Sunset Mesa had sold not just her friend's body, but many others. Theyre united by the pain of believing they purchased cremation services for their loved ones, knowing they never agreed to let Hess dismember the bodies. Mabry said Koch told him the glass eye couldnt be removed after Dunlaps head was severed, embalmed and shipped to researchers. Bankman-Fried can have flip phone, limited internet while on bail, US proposes, Biden assembles team of allies to boost re-election campaign, Reporting by John Shiffman; Editing by Paul Simao and Richard Chang, Michigan judge dismisses school staff as defendants in lawsuits over mass shooting, American Airlines, flight attendants union seek mediation in contract negotiations, Macron ends Africa tour with wish for fair reset of ties, Turkey's Erdogan dismisses opposition split and says his ruling alliance will stay on same path, Turkey's pro-Kurdish party calls for opposition unity after split, In Turkey's quake-devasted city of Antakya, an antiques seller is determined to stay put, Eni agrees deal with UAE's ADNOC as Italy rebuilds relationship, Exclusive news, data and analytics for financial market professionals. More by The Associated Press, Got a story tip? The startling discovery led to a further investigation of oversight in the funeral industry. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July 2022 after a 2018 investigation that exposed her for selling parts of dead bodies that were brought to the funeral home for cremation. Hess continues running a dual operation. That individual, referred to in the order only as E.W., received no notice that the cremation would be done at the Gypsum funeral home, one of six locations Kent operates in Colorados high country. Officials also found the "post-cremation remains" of 16 people, according . It can't be fixed, said Hancock. That individual, referred to in the order only as E.W., received no notice that the cremation would be done at the Gypsum funeral home, one of six locations Kent operates in Colorados high country. Thousands more patients could benefit from life saving and healing eye and tissue donations.. MONTROSE, Colo. (CBS4) - Federal authorities raided a funeral home in Montrose on Tuesday, at which the owner is under investigation for a side-business donating bodies for education and. or redistributed. Enter your email address to join 3,177 readers who subscribe to all Funeral Director articles. Colorado regulators can now inspect funeral homes and crematories without owners' permission The state has long had some of the laxest laws in the nation surrounding funeral homes Joe. Teselle said, Whats shocking to me is that theres not an outcry for there to be more legislation, theres not an outcry for the government to regulate and license these people.. Hancock is one of more than five dozen family members currently suing the family that operated the now shut-down Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. A spokeswoman for Donate LifeAmerica said in an email that Hesss firm is not a federally designated organ procurement organization and has no permission to use the Donate Life brand. Finally, after a month, she got Staci Kent on the phone and laid into her, asking why she hadnt heard anything about her sons cremains. The Daily Sentinel reports that Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction. Kent also still faces second-degree official misconduct charges stemming from a September 2019 grand jury indictment in the Fifth Judicial District. The owners of that funeral home are facing charges of desecrating human remains more than four months after investigators found the body, which had been stored in a non-refrigerated room for years. Updated: 8:07 PM MDT September 14, 2021. Thank you for thinking of me.. That's part of my nightmare. Bailey-Kent Funeral Home, pictured at left, is one of two funeral homes owned by Shannon Kent now under criminal investigation. After receiving the cremains, E.W. In Colorado and most other states, it also is legal for funeral homes to sell items recovered from dead bodies, such as gold dental work. After reading the states suspension order this week, two women told The Denver Post that the circumstances surrounding E.W. sound eerily familiar. When Schum hesitated, Hess said she would waive the cremation fee if Schum agreed to donate her friend's bladder to science. . A funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 4th 2023 at 10:30 AM at the First Church of the Nazarene (505 E Beatty Ave, Yuma, CO 80759). I see his body parts floating in space and I keep trying to grab them and put him back and I can't! Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. The price list is from an Arizona company shut down after an FBI raid five years ago. John Wayne Gacy House: Now. . Colorado regulators shut down the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in 2018. Hancocks story started after her husband, Thomas, passed away. Sunset Mesa, like all other funeral homes in Colorado, is required by state law to have a death certificate filed with the vital records office before obtaining a disposition permit. The confrontation escalated when Shannon Kent allegedly called Lake County Sheriff Amy Reyes and threatened her with arrest for questioning his wifes decision not to use the body bag, prosecutors said. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. A former Colorado funeral home owner has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on charges of fraud and selling body parts without permission. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. Funeral homes in Leadville and Gypsum are under criminal investigation after authorities this month found an unrefrigerated body, bags of unlabeled cremains, an abandoned stillborn infant and at least one instance in which a family received cremains for their stillborn child mixed with bits of adult body parts and metal fragments. The FBI hired a lab to test the cremains given to the families, and they have determined the boxes of ash contain cement, sand and other non-human particles. Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. MILLERSVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) A Lancaster County funeral home and its director are facing formal disciplinary action and are under investigation by the state. At the time of publication, no charges had been filed against the coroner, though Colorado has suspended the business licenses for both funeral homes. Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. The report also noted that a former employee at Sunset Mesa was troubled by Hess mother, who was responsible for embalming and dismembering the dead bodies. Reuters could not independently verify this figure. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Think about it, the FBI came in and raided them, and they raided them because they knew this body broker this was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, said Berg. The Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center is under investigation by Jeffersonville Police Detective Division after 31 deceased individuals and the post-cremated remains of 16 individuals. Her revised online biography cited her high school degree and a love of veterinary medicine.. SCI 4Q Revenue and Year End Revenue lower than comparables, Funeral Director Daily, The business of Funeral Care. The states Department of Regulatory Agencies said it has nine open complaints about Sunset Mesa higher than average for funeral homes in the state, said spokesman Lee Rasizer. But two said Hess sometimes bragged about how lucrative it was to sell bodies and body parts. Its not something that can be fixed., Hancock was notified by the FBI that her husbands body parts had been sold without her consent. Chantal Reh, an Avon resident, went through a similar experience when she suffered a stillborn birth in August 2018. SENTINEL FILE PHOTO Sisters Layna and Janet Hutt hold photos of their father, Raymond Hutt, who died in 2016 at the age of 96. At Donor Services, her body parts business, Hess can generate a greater return on the dead, a different price list reviewed by Reuters showed. Hess, however, charged families to donate their bodies $195, plus $300 more if relatives want cremated remains returned. found out the cremains contained ashes from an infant, but also long bone fragments of an older/larger adult individual and metal, according to the suspension order. None of the former employees or associates Reuters interviewed worked directly for the body broker business. Legal Statement. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. Learn more about Colorado true crime stories in the gallery below. Subscribe to Funeral Director Daily
On March 16, the director of the Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration sent Kent a letter of admonition after a state investigator found unembalmed, unrefrigerated bodily remains in his Gypsum funeral home more than 24 hours from the date of death. The most expensive prices were for an upper torso that included a head and arms ($4,000) and the cost of an entire body was $5,000, according to the price list. Legal Statement. Funeral homes in Leadville and Gypsum are under criminal investigation after authorities this month found an unrefrigerated body, bags of unlabeled cremains, an abandoned stillborn infant. A change of plea hearing for Koch is scheduled for July 12. Non-compete agreements, Customer Experience, Community Engagement. by Mr. Leadville | Oct 26, 2020 | Leadville News. In 2009, Hess also created a nonprofit called Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation, d/b/a Donor Services, a body broker service operated out of the same location as SMFD. Both Reh and Cavanagh said they want to get the ashes analyzed at the University of Colorado to see if they actually belong to their babies. After receiving the cremains, E.W. Its really an underground industry that most people dont know about, said attorney Michael Burg. And it is not against the law to operate a so-called body broker firm from the same facility that houses a funeral home and crematory. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. As you likely know by now, Diamond of the famous 'Diamond and Silk' sister duo, has passed away at the young age of only 51. Heads went for $500 and $250 for a knee prices at significantly discounted rates compared to other body brokers. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. The next year,. It is unbelievable, said Dave Teselle, a Denver-based attorney who represents Hancock and more than five dozen other families in a claim against the owners of Sunset Mesa and the companies who are accused of buying the body parts. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. First published on Wed 6 Jul 2022 10.36 EDT. . I saw a lot inside as far as, you know, body parts and things like that. She continued, But I was oblivious to what was going on. It is a business and it is a profit business, added Burg. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. A judge sentenced a Colorado funeral-home owner who carved up corpses and sold parts of them without families' permission to 20 years in prison on Tuesday, according to the Department of Justice. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. These illegitimate businesses are buying and selling body parts just like anything off the shelf at Walmart, added Teselle. In addition, a lawsuit has been filed by Shirley Hollenback and her daughter alleging that the remains she received purported to be the cremation ashes of her husband are somebody elses remains and not those of her husband. She signed a contract with a Montrose funeral home to have his body cremated. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. On her cremation marketing website, a donor could simply select from a drop-down menu, fill out a few forms, click Add to Cart, and enter a credit card number.
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