She took orders for body parts via Hotmail, email records show. A former employee has alleged misconduct regarding the disposal of the deceased at Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas. 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. The Denver attorney is referring to the limited and nonexistent regulation nationwide and worldwide regarding the procurement and selling of bodies and body parts. 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. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. Lawsuits pile up against former funeral director - Tennessee Lookout Its not something that can be fixed., Hancock was notified by the FBI that her husbands body parts had been sold without her consent. Torsos are a popular specimen these days, she wrote. 06, 2021. . (REUTERS). . Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. Its really an underground industry that most people dont know about, said attorney Michael Burg. 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. 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 Twenty-five of the brokers were for-profit corporations. Funeral Home Owner Brian Barnett Faces Charges in N.Y. Probe - Law & Crime Colorado Funeral Home Caught Selling Bodies Intended For Cremation Trial scheduled for ex-Lake County coroner, wife arrested after - KKTV Do You Remember the Dark History of This Colorado Funeral Home? Funeral homes owned by a Colorado coroner under investigation following No one would pick up the phone. 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. Colorado does not regulate body brokers. I go to sleep with the visions of him being dismembered with a power saw, said Ruthie Pettyjohn, whose sons body parts were allegedly sold. After reading the states suspension order this week, two women told The Denver Post that the circumstances surrounding E.W. sound eerily familiar. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. Prior to the raid, the cost of purchasing an arm and shoulder was $600. Downard Funeral Home Under Investigation, ISU Involved There are many events that have unfolded over the past couple weeks involving Downard Funeral Home, some including Idaho State University (ISU). Both have become experts on the secret industry of selling body parts on a world wide market. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. 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. Specifics of the scope of theFBI investigation are unclear. Im not interested. Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. The gruesome details of the case which authorities say included more than 500 victims drew international attention and shined a light on the . 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. Colorado regulators shut Sunset Mesa down in February 2018, KMGH-TV reported. pleaded guilty to fraud in July after a . Why their loved ones were stolen from them, and they were given back dry cement or sand and told it was loved ones ashes, said Teselle. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. 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.. . Authorities are now investigating. 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. Meme Eberspacher, Dunlaps niece, was at his bedside the night that Dunlap died. In mid-March, Kent received a letter of admonition" from the Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration after unembalmed, unrefrigerated remains were found in the Gypsum funeral home over 24 hours after the person had died. The Donor Services brochure was criticized as deceptive by two major U.S. organ donation groups after Reuters shared it with them. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. They are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. POCATELLO, Idaho Police in Pocatello are investigating a local funeral home after they said a state health inspector contacted them about the business and a badly decomposed body was found. These people deserve to know why what was done to them was done to them. This all began when a severely decomposed body was reported by a state health inspector. Kent has not yet been arrested for the most recent incidents, which at the Leadville funeral home included authorities' discovery of an abandoned stillborn, according to the Oct. 13 summary suspension issued by Colorados Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. "Hess and Koch's conduct caused immense emotional pain for the families and next of kin.". There are no ethics there when you do that. The recent parade of early deaths has hit close to home. She was sold, embalmed and shipped out within just a few hours of her death, said Holloman. Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years for selling TX Funeral Service Commission Investigating Golden Gate - Spectrum News Sunset Mesa Funeral Home Operators Arrested For Illegal Body Part Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. The reality of body brokers profiting from the sale of body parts has made national and international headlines following government raids in Arizona and Colorado in recent years. The surgical-training companies and other firms which bought the arms, legs, heads and torsos from Hess did not know they had been fraudulently obtained, prosecutors said. Its a profit business. . Buyers ranged from educators and scientists to individuals in the medical industry. 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. 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. But days went by and she couldnt reach anyone. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. 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. Hancock is one of many family members who has learned the cremains she was given by the owners of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose contained items and materials that were not her husband. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. The ex-employee said that she witnessed a collection of gold teeth that Hess mother allegedly extracted from the corpses fillings or crowns and that the familycashed in on the gold to pay for a trip to Disneyland in California. . But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO: On allegations of fraud and illegally selling body parts, a former owner of a funeral home in Colorado was given a 20-year term in federal prison. The operators of a Colorado funeral home suspected of running a side business selling body parts without consent have been indicted on fraud and illegally transporting diseased cadavers. It was kinda creepy., It is totally unregulated, said Burg. 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. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. Koch's central role was chopping up the bodies, court records show. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Extra charges are assessed if a body is embalmed or a funeral director is involved. It is illegal to buy or sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant. All rights reserved. A woman in Colorado has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegally selling body parts. As a result, Peck and his funeral home were required to pay a $2,500 fine and $5,000 in investigative costs and attorney fees. 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. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. 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. They are struggling with claims she created a product with a power saw and angry that she ultimately profited from the sale of arms, heads legs, torsos even whole bodies. seattletimes.com: Colorado funeral home owner sentenced in body sales Licenses revoked for Pocatello funeral home - KTVB 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. 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. There is even more money to be made in dissecting those bodies and selling the parts. Six people were killed, including federal District Court Chief Judge John Roll; Gabe Zimmerman, one of Giffords's staffers; and a 9-year-old girl . Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. Market data provided by Factset. Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. According to theDenver Post, prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Hess this year regarding a 2020 indictment against her and her mother. It is also the only state that doesnt license funeral directors. Market data provided by Factset. Escher said Koch, who embalmed and dismembered bodies, pulled teeth from some of the corpses to extract the gold in crowns or fillings. Colorado Funeral Homes, funeral flowers & funeral planning During her speech at Diamond's funeral, her partner in crime, Silk, implied that there was foul play involved in her death and urged for an investigation. I told them it didnt make sense, Mabry said. Seeing how this chapter is opening up again is incredible, its unbelievable. 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. Feb 4, 2023, 5:26 PM SGT. The name of the state is derived form the Spanish . Funeral homes owned by Lake County coroner under investigation The charges defray the cost of picking up the deceased, she said in the 2016 interview. Source: Bodies stacked up at Jeffersonville funeral home after - WDRB Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Andrew Scheid has been the director at . A funeral director who also works as a body broker could have a financial incentive to sell a body for its valuable parts rather than provide an inexpensive burial, for instance. No one returned her voicemails. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. Seeing how this chapter is opening up again is incredible, its unbelievable. Below, find out where 25 of the most infamous crimes in history took place and what the locations are used for today. Montrose, Colorado: A former funeral home operator pleads guilty to E.W. 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. 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. 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. Peck was given another six months of probation. 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. He covers everything from stolen art and towing to mobile homes and quirky stories that defy category. The startling discovery led to a further investigation of oversight in the funeral industry. Colorado funeral home owner accused of stealing body parts pleads Charles "Paul" Lynch Obituary (1953 - 2023) | Yuma, Colorado This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 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. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. But two said Hess sometimes bragged about how lucrative it was to sell bodies and body parts. It only investigates a funeral home if a complaint is filed, he said. The price list is from an Arizona company shut down after an FBI raid five years ago. 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). The attorney, Carol Viner, asked Reuters to refrain from contacting Hess employees for any reason.. They desecrated his little body, she 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. 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. The suspension order details a 2019 instance in which an unnamed individual arranged with Kents funeral home for the cremation of their stillborn child. 2011 Tucson shooting - Wikipedia Thats when E.W. John Wayne Gacy House: Now. Kent has not been arrested in this latest incident and no charges have been filed, though the two funeral homes business licenses have been suspended by the state. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. 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. 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. Neither addressed the issue about the teeth. I just figured it was a legitimate business., When asked by Denver7 if she ever heard bodies being dismembered, Hampson said, you could hear the machine going. Asked if that machine was a saw, she said, Yes, you could hear that in the room (a back room at the funeral home). 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. I'll never be OK.". A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Body of complaints piled up: State knew of funeral home concerns long 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. By: Tony Kovaleski Posted at 6:00 PM, Oct 31, 2019 N.Y. 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. I just had the impression that something wasnt right all along. He said neither Hess nor Koch told him that his friends body parts would be sold. 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. 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 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. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because when it became the 38th state, the United States turned 100 on August 1, 1876. (If they've been left standing. Hess, however, charged families to donate their bodies $195, plus $300 more if relatives want cremated remains returned. "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 news agency had also sent written questions to Hess and her attorney about Kochs alleged handling of gold teeth. Learn more about Colorado true crime stories in the gallery below. Her funeral home site listed her credentials, including a PhD in mortuary science. 'Tragic' cases prompt bill making it easier to inspect Colorado funeral Reuters could not independently verify this figure. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! 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. 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. Most brokers who sell body parts offer to cremate part of the donors body for free. Funeral homes are required to register with the state, but spokesman Rasizer said the regulatory affairs department is not authorized to inspect mortuaries. Funeral home owners charged with desecrating human remains 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. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas is accused of a range of misdeeds, from not embalming or refrigerating bodies in a . More by The Associated Press, Got a story tip? 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. 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. You are looking at how to make money.. Colorado Funeral Homes. Kent has not been arrested in this latest incident and no charges have been filed, though the two funeral homes business licenses have been suspended by the state. Chantal Reh. . Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. Megan Hess pleads guilty, faces 20 years in prison - The Colorado Sun [wpforms id=436 title=true description=true]. 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. Woman Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Selling Body Parts Thats when E.W. The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately.