Two funeral homes owned by Lake County Coroner Shannon Kent are under investigation after law enforcement earlier this month found an unrefrigerated body, an abandoned stillborn infant, bags of unl Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. 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. Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. The next year,. Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images. Downard Funeral Home Under Investigation, ISU Involved It is a business and it is a profit business, added Burg. Other charges against Hess will . MONTROSE, Colorado The Federal Bureau of Investigation is interviewing former employees of a funeral home whose owner runs a side business on the same premises selling human body parts. In reality, Burg added, they are just trying to get those bodies free and then they are going to chop them up themselves in parts and make money off the bodies.. 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 . 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. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. Its not something that can be fixed., Hancock was notified by the FBI that her husbands body parts had been sold without her consent. and Cavanagh, Reh had an immensely difficult time reaching the Kents, the phone ringing unanswered for weeks. It was kinda creepy., It is totally unregulated, said Burg. seattletimes.com: Colorado funeral home owner sentenced in body sales Legal Statement. "This is the most emotionally draining case I have ever experienced on the bench," U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello said during Tuesday's sentencing hearing in Grand Junction, Colorado. Connie Hansons sons body parts were also allegedly sold. Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 yrs for selling body The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. Funeral homes are required to register with the state, but spokesman Rasizer said the regulatory affairs department is not authorized to inspect mortuaries. The brochure, provided to Reuters by Hess during the 2016 interview, continued this way: Every year, organ, eye and tissue transplants provide hope to tens of thousands of people suffering from disease, injury, trauma or blindness. 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. Colorado Funeral Home Owners Charged With Brokering Body Parts Market data provided by Factset. She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. The name of the state is derived form the Spanish . ", Tina Shanon, whose mother was dismembered against her will, told the court, "I've worn many masks to cover the pain. The startling discovery led to a further investigation of oversight in the funeral industry. 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. The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. Two months later, after hearing nothing from Hess, Schum went to Sunset Mesa to retrieve her friend's ashes. No one would pick up the phone. State investigates 'Buried by the Bernards' funeral home - WREG.com Specifics of the scope of theFBI investigation are unclear. Neither addressed the issue about the teeth. It comes on the heels of a law passed in 2020 that. heres a recap of our months top stories, Carriage Services reports Services and Revenue drops in 2022. As she mourned the loss of her son, Cavanagh was referred to the Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum to do the cremation. Hess, along with her mother and father, are all named in a lawsuit, which accuses them of using a backroom to dismember cadavers with a power saw and stack body parts in coolers. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. She did. Bodies Found in Unlicensed Funeral Home: Police Hancocks story started after her husband, Thomas, passed away. A woman in Colorado has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegally selling body parts. GYPSUM The operating license for Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum has been summarily suspended by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies following an investigation that revealed disturbing conditions at an associated funeral home in Leadville. 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. Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. SCI 4Q Revenue and Year End Revenue lower than comparables, Funeral Director Daily, The business of Funeral Care. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Jeffersonville funeral home is under investigation after the owner allegedly got behind on processing bodies, which began stacking up for an unknown period of. But days went by and she couldnt reach anyone. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. No federal law prohibits the buying and selling of human body parts to be used in research and education. Colorado woman sentenced to 20 years for stealing, selling body parts NBC10 . These people deserve to know why what was done to them was done to them. She mentioned on several occasions about how much money she would be getting per month, which blew my mind, said Jennifer Henderson, a former floral designer for Sunset Mesa. She signed a contract with a Montrose funeral home to have his body cremated. Thank you, she said before ending the call. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. Read on to see why: At a glance, the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home appeared to be a business helping locals through the loss of their loved ones. 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. Colorado funeral home operators sentenced for selling body parts Andrew Scheid has been the director at . On July 2, Jeffersonville Police officials announced dozens of bodies were found decomposing inside a funeral home in the Southern Indiana city, just across the river from Louisville. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. As a matter of fact, the FBI has set up a hot line and e-mail address for potential victims of the businesses to contact with information. She showed me her collection of gold teeth one day, said Escher, who helped manage a former cremation-marketing business owned by Hess. POCATELLO, Idaho A Pocatello funeral home under investigation by the Idaho Board of Morticians has had its licenses revoked. None of the former employees or associates Reuters interviewed worked directly for the body broker business. All rights reserved. In one instance, on March 10, 2019, Staci Kent was significantly delayed to the scene because the van she was using to pick up the body had a dead battery, bald tires and was buried in snow, prosecutors alleged. The lawsuit estimates the three were making $40,000 a month from the sale of body parts. [the FBI told me] his head was sent to so and so. "It's concerning to the court that defendant Hess refuses to assume any responsibility for her conduct.". Burg and Teselles law firm is currently suing body brokers in both Colorado and Arizona. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. Body brokers like Donor Services are also known as non-transplant tissue banks. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems,Steve Palmer, a funeral director in Cottonwood, Ariz., and former member of the policy board at the National Funeral Directors Association, said. The New York Times, a far-left outlet, admitted in a report that Trump's rollback of a rule from President Barack But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. Colorado funeral home owner accused of stealing body parts pleads Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Ive had nightmares about it, said Fredericka Freddie Hancock. "Hess and Koch used their funeral home at times to essentially steal bodies and body parts using fraudulent and forged donor forms," prosecutor Tim Neff said in a court filing. The Denver attorney is referring to the limited and nonexistent regulation nationwide and worldwide regarding the procurement and selling of bodies and body parts. That means almost anyone, regardless of expertise, can dissect and sell human remains. At the focal point of the FBI probe: funeral director Megan Hess, who did not return Fox News request for a comment. She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. The Daily Sentinel reports that Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction. Hess runs Sunset Mesa, a funeral home, and Donor Services, a body broker operation from the same building in Montrose. You are looking at how to make money.. SENTINEL FILE PHOTO Sisters Layna and Janet Hutt hold photos of their father, Raymond Hutt, who died in 2016 at the age of 96. He has served as Lake County coroner since 2012 and was reelected to a four-year term in November 2018. A price quote Hess sent to an Arizona medical training lab in 2016 offered torsos for $1,000 each. Charles "Paul" Lynch Obituary (1953 - 2023) | Yuma, Colorado E.W. Heads went for $500 and $250 for a knee prices at significantly discounted rates compared to other body brokers. Legal Statement. Authorities also uncovered multiple refrigerated bodies which were wrapped in sheets or blankets but did not have any tags or paperwork identifying them. Sunset Mesas operators, Megan Hess and Shirley Koch, were indicted by a federal grand jury in March for allegedly shipping body parts all over the world against the will of family members, who found out years later that the ashes in their homes were not those of their loved ones. Hess continues running a dual operation. Donating bodies, selling the parts: Frequently asked questions. Propel Funeral Partners makes acquisitions. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems. Torsos are a popular specimen these days, she wrote. . 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. An Upstate New York funeral home proprietor is facing imminent criminal charges for allegedly keeping dead human bodies in "advanced states of decomposition" in his business and its detached garage, local officials announced Friday. 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. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because when it became the 38th state, the United States turned 100 on August 1, 1876. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. 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. Source: Bodies stacked up at Jeffersonville funeral home after - WDRB Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. On Oct. 2, the Lake and Eagle county sheriffs departments executed a search warrant at the Bailey-Kent Funeral Home in Leadville, where deputies encountered a strong odor of decomposition, according to an Oct. 13 summary suspension issued by the states Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration, before finding: In addition to the Leadville funeral home, the state issued suspension orders for the Kent Funeral Home Gypsum. A pelvis with upper legs went for $1,200, heads for $500, a knee for $250, and a foot for $125, according to a 2013 Donor Services price list reviewed by Reuters. Funeral homes owned by a Colorado coroner under investigation following I'll never be OK.". He has served as Lake County coroner since 2012 and was reelected to a four-year term in November 2018. While Sunset Mesa legally is permitted to own and operate both businesses, Reuters found that there was no other active instance where a funeral home, crematory and body broker had the same owner and were in the same facility. On at least three occasions, Staci Kent allegedly responded to calls from law enforcement requesting a coroner at a death scene, according to the indictment. ThinkStock via Getty Images. Investigators discovered 31 dead bodies, some of which were in advanced stages of decomposition. DALLAS The Texas Funeral Service Commission says it has opened an investigation into allegations of the mishandling of corpses at one of the most high-profile mortuaries in the state. The NBC10 Investigators found bodies inside an unlicensed funeral home in Chester, Pennsylvania. The focus and extent of the federal probe into the Hess operation is unclear, and the FBI also declined to comment. Such a partnership may raise ethical concerns because it creates a financial incentive for the funeral home. The Daily Sentinel Megan Hess The Bailey-Kent Funeral Home was the only option given to her for cremation under a certain weight, she said. Colorado regulators shut down the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in 2018. Part 8: Former workers describe troubling practices at this mortuary-body broker, including allegations of deceptive marketing and an account of how gold dental work was removed from corpses and sold. Megan Hess & Shirley Koch Sunset Mesa Funeral Home body parts scam I know these are not his ashes because his body parts went all over the country, Hanson said. Megan Hess, a former Colorado funeral home director, chopped up over 500 . First published on Wed 6 Jul 2022 10.36 EDT. Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Members of the FBI, along with Montrose law enforcement investigate the Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building Tuesday morning, February 6, 2018. By: Tony Kovaleski Posted at 6:00 PM, Oct 31, 2019 In Colorado and most other states, it's legal for funeral homes to sell items taken from corpses, including the gold found in teeth. Coroner and Wife Accused of Running Funeral Home From Hell The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. In their filing, prosecutors stressed the "macabre nature" of Hess' scheme and described it as one of the most significant body parts cases in recent U.S. history. Kent is already facing charges of perjury and official misconduct for sending wife Staci Kent, who is not authorized to act as a deputy coroner, to death scenes on at least three occasions, according to a September 2019 grand jury indictment. (REUTERS). The suspension order details a 2019 instance in which an unnamed individual arranged with Kents funeral home for the cremation of their stillborn child. Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. some timely learning opportunities for our readers, Dont forget Low-tech to build your brand. Koch's central role was chopping up the bodies, court records show. Hes already facing charges of official misconduct and perjury stemming from allegations last year that he sent his wife Staci to multiple death scenes even though she wasnt authorized to serve as a deputy coroner. Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. There is even more money to be made in dissecting those bodies and selling the parts. Peck was given another six months of probation. John Wayne Gacy's house has since been torn down and replaced with a new residence, built on the same land where Gacy reportedly buried many of his victims. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. TX Funeral Service Commission Investigating Golden Gate - Spectrum News One of Hesss donors was Rex Dunlap, a frugal Coloradan battling brain cancer. The other nine were structured as nonprofits, including Donor Services the only broker Reuters could find that still doubles as a funeral home. They are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. She was sold, embalmed and shipped out within just a few hours of her death, said Holloman. Im not interested. When Schum hesitated, Hess said she would waive the cremation fee if Schum agreed to donate her friend's bladder to science. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. Officials also found the "post-cremation remains" of 16 people, according . Lynette "Diamond" Hardaway's Cause of Death Revealed Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. Colorado Funeral Homes. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, 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 parts without permission. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison By The Associated Press January 4, 2023, 12:16 AM Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The probe into the coroners funeral homes started back in February, after a client complained to the Lake County Sheriffs Office about the handling of human remains. The Green Funeral. The lawsuit claims the three sold torsos for $1,000, a pelvis with upper legs for $1,200. Kent operates six funeral homes in the states high country, which also include Buena Vista, Fairplay, Idaho Springs, and Silverthorne. Updated: 8:07 PM MDT September 14, 2021. The Colorado Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state our community can better understand itself. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. A former Colorado funeral home operator has pleaded guilty to stealing and then selling hundreds of human bodies or body parts to people who were buying the remains for scientific, medical or . The friend would then place the glass eye in an urn containing half of Dunlaps ashes and bury the urn atop the grave of Dunlaps father in Telluride, Colorado. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. . The body was identified by fingerprints as Victor Akubuo, 42, from Southern . Be an organ donor, a slogan often used by organ transplant advocates. Megan Hess, the former operator of a Montrose funeral home convicted of selling body parts without family consent, was . Along with it would be a note reading: Heres looking at you. The rest of his ashes would be buried with Dunlaps mother in Denver. I thought it was something that needs to be corrected," said state Senator Larry Crowder, one of the bills sponsors. 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. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. DENVER, Colorado - 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 .

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