There are people and businesses who spend millions and millions of dollars," Teselle added, "trafficking in these body parts as if they were nothing more than cans of soup or loaves of bread., I was pretty shocked, said Jacque Hampson, a former employee of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. 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. The suspension order details a 2019 instance in which an unnamed individual arranged with Kents funeral home for the cremation of their stillborn child. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. The price list is from an Arizona company shut down after an FBI raid five years ago. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. 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. "No, I did not," Hancock responded. . When Reuters visited her facility in 2016, Hess said Donor Services represented just 15 percent or so of her total business. 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. On dozens of occasions, Hess and Koch transferred bodies or body parts to third parties for research without families knowledge, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Lake County coroner Shannon Kent owns both the Bailey-Kent Funeral Home in Leadville about 100 miles southeast of Denver and the Kent Funeral Home Gypsum about 133 miles west of the Mile High City, The Denver Post reported Friday. The indictment accuses Kent of allowing his wife to go out to death scenes as a deputy coroner, even though she took no oath and an appointment had not been filed with the county clerk, as required by law. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. Thats when E.W. 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. The attorney, Carol Viner, asked Reuters to refrain from contacting Hess employees for any reason.. Hess runs Sunset Mesa, a funeral home, and Donor Services, a body broker operation from the same building in Montrose. A funeral home in Indiana is under investigation after allegedly falling behind on processing dead bodies for an unknown period of time, but at least a few months. The scope of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home and Donor Services remains unclear at this time while investigators are trying to get a handle on that issue. Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. (REUTERS). He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. are acquisitions larger in general? 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. 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. Hess committed crimes, prosecutors said, when she defrauded relatives of the deceased by lying about cremations and by dissecting bodies and selling them without permission. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, E.W. some timely learning opportunities for our readers, Dont forget Low-tech to build your brand. Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. On Oct. 13, the state shut down both the Gypsum operation and . 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. In another call two months later, Staci Kent responded to a death scene without a body bag, the indictment states, which led to an argument with law enforcement. . 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. 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. Thats when E.W. Peck was given another six months of probation. Megan Hess, a former Colorado funeral home director, chopped up over 500 . But days went by and she couldnt reach anyone. The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. Staci Kent arrived to one of those death scenes without a body bag, which spurred an argument with authorities, the indictment notes. After a reporter asked questions about the websiteand her background, Hess removed the Add to Cart donation pages from her cremation website and cut the mention of the mortuary science degree from her online biography. 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. 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. She has been told parts of her husbands body were sold on the world-wide market. He had been dismembered. After reading the states suspension order this week, two women told The Denver Post that the circumstances surrounding E.W. sound eerily familiar. In February of 2018, Colorado regulators shut down the funeral home at the same time the FBI was investigating claims families did not receive the real cremains of their loved ones. There is even more money to be made in dissecting those bodies and selling the parts. Since that time, according to the article, Reuters has not been able to find another business in the United States that operates a funeral home, crematory, and body broker business in the same location and operated by the same owner. 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. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! The Denver attorney is referring to the limited and nonexistent regulation nationwide and worldwide regarding the procurement and selling of bodies and body parts. Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. Like many, Hanson found out about her son Frederick during a phone call from an FBI agent. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The FBI started looking into Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services a few months after it was discovered that both businesses were being operated out of the same building and by the same owner, according to thereport. She said that one month she got about $40,000 from selling donated bodies. More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives, Got a confidential news tip? 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. The New York Times, a far-left outlet, admitted in a report that Trump's rollback of a rule from President Barack And as of. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. A change of plea hearing for Koch is scheduled for July 12. A woman in Colorado has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegally selling body parts. 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. You know, they can't put his head back on his body, they can't put his arms and legs back on his body. 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. They desecrated his little body, she said. 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. heres a recap of our months top stories, Carriage Services reports Services and Revenue drops in 2022. 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. The 20-year term was the maximum allowed under law. No such degree exists in the United States for morticians, veteran funeral directors say. Funeral home remains under federal investigation 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. Such multipurpose operations raise ethical concerns, several funeral industry veterans said. 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. 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. 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. Funeral homes are required to register with the state, but spokesman Rasizer said the regulatory affairs department is not authorized to inspect mortuaries. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. We were greeted at the door by her father, who told us to leave the property. It was kinda creepy., It is totally unregulated, said Burg. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. "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. Subscribe to Funeral Director Daily In Colorado and most other states, it's legal for funeral homes to sell items taken from corpses, including the gold found in teeth. E.W. a contrarian view? 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. 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 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. She showed me her collection of gold teeth one day, said Escher, who helped manage a former cremation-marketing business owned by Hess. 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. Seeing how this chapter is opening up again is incredible, its unbelievable. Shannon and Staci Kent, 45, of Leadville were charged on Friday with attempted tampering with a deceased human body. At the focal point of the FBI probe: funeral director Megan Hess, who did not return Fox News request for a comment. The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. The home, located at 8215 W. Summerdale Ave., was sold for just shy of $400,000 in May 2021. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. The Bailey-Kent Funeral Home was the only option given to her for cremation under a certain weight, she said. Hiring funeral directors: Do you look for IQ or EQ? Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. 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. The lawsuit claims the three sold torsos for $1,000, a pelvis with upper legs for $1,200. Reuters identified 34 body brokers that have been active across the United States during the past five years. The recent parade of early deaths has hit close to home. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. The funeral home's owners, Megan Hess, 43, and her mother . However, on Thursday, Colorado police arrested Shannon and Staci Kent after finding a decaying corpse in a funeral home they previously operated. 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. Hansons box included wires and what appear to be old batteries. The Donor Services brochure was criticized as deceptive by two major U.S. organ donation groups after Reuters shared it with them. Two months later, after hearing nothing from Hess, Schum went to Sunset Mesa to retrieve her friend's ashes. 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. All quotes delayed a minimum of 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. Suppliers of transplant tissue must obtain federal recognition and operate as charities. The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately. An agent with the FBI has interviewed at least four former employees who worked for funeral director and body broker Megan Hess, seeking information about how she operates her businesses, the former workers told Reuters. 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. 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. The news agency had also sent written questions to Hess and her attorney about Kochs alleged handling of gold teeth. 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. 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 body was identified by fingerprints as Victor Akubuo, 42, from Southern . The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. 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. 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. 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. 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. 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 . It was kind of creepy.. And much like E.W. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. Weeks passed before Hess told him that Donor Services couldnt retrieve the glass eye because the company couldnt locate the researcher who received Dunlaps head, Mabry said. My mother and my mothers body has been desecrated.. These illegitimate businesses are buying and selling body parts just like anything off the shelf at Walmart, added Teselle. A few days later, she was able to pick up the cremains, but like E.W., Cavanagh received no paperwork. Market data provided by Factset. Be an organ donor, a slogan often used by organ transplant advocates. Jacque Hampson spent a year working as Hesss personal assistant. Hess, however, charged families to donate their bodies $195, plus $300 more if relatives want cremated remains returned. "This is the most emotionally draining. 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). Chantal Reh. 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. 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. Megan Hess, the owner of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, and her parents are now under investigation by the FBI. Meme Eberspacher, Dunlaps niece, was at his bedside the night that Dunlap died. Sam Tabachnik is a roving reporter for The Denver Post, focusing on stories outside metro Denver. There are currently 350 funeral home listings for the state of Colorado and we provide all the cemetery information for the state as well. A Colorado funeral home is under federal investigation over accusations it doubled as a body broker firm, buying and selling human body parts, a Reuters special report revealed Tuesday. 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. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 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. This compassionate help is the essence of what we do. Its for profit and people dont realize there is a huge demand for cadavers and body parts., That demand comes from all over the world including medical schools, law enforcement agencies, the military and a variety of other industries looking to legitimately purchase bodies and body parts for credible research. The Green Funeral. Another alleged victim said her mothers body was desecrated. Enter your email address to join 3,177 readers who subscribe to all Funeral Director articles. Neither addressed the issue about the teeth. MONTROSE, Colo. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. Responding to the investigations and details reported out of Montrose, Colorado lawmakers could become the first in the country to pass a law making it illegal for funeral home or crematory owners to operate as a body broker. No one would pick up the phone. In court on Tuesday, Hess declined to speak to the judge. After Mabry threatened to sue Hess for losing the eye, he said Hess wrote him a check: $500, a refund of the money Dunlap had paid to donate plus $5. The suspension order details a 2019 instance in which an unnamed individual arranged with Kents funeral home for the cremation of their stillborn child. 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. Kent also still faces second-degree official misconduct charges stemming from a September 2019 grand jury indictment in the Fifth Judicial District. Hess continues running a dual operation. Authorities are now investigating. Legal Statement. According to the Johnstown, N.Y. Police Department, Brian M. Barnett, 35, who owns the since-shuttered Ehle . You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). The article also tells about how Sunset Mesa Funeral Home handled some services free of charge. Kent operates six funeral homes in the states high country, which also include Buena Vista, Fairplay, Idaho Springs, and Silverthorne. Below, find out where 25 of the most infamous crimes in history took place and what the locations are used for today. On March 17, the unsealed indictment revealed that this donor services business would harvest the human remains and then sell them, illegally and without the families' knowledge. 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 . By: Tony Kovaleski Posted at 6:00 PM, Oct 31, 2019 Hess made donating a body online easy. Hess, 45, and her mother, Shirley Koch, operated the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. 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. After receiving the cremains, E.W. Investigators discovered 31 dead bodies, some of which were in advanced stages of decomposition. Legal Statement. Prior to the raid, the cost of purchasing an arm and shoulder was $600. Its tentacles go throughout not only the country but the world.. Hess and Koch also shipped bodies and body parts that tested positive for, or belonged to people who died from, infectious diseases including Hepatitis B and C, and HIV, despite certifying to buyers that the remains were disease-free, authorities said. Could, Lake County coroner turns in resignation letter, State suspends operations of Leadville, Gypsum funeral homes, 3 BULLETS TO THE BACK: The striking silence around a police, Last Season Hunters Harvested the Most Bucks in 21 Years | Outdoor Life, Republicans are barring medical boards from punishing doctors who prescribe ivermectin: report | Salon.com, Mead High School student gets musical Make-A-Wish surprise, Bruce Cassidy Defends Tuukka Rask After Tough Showing Vs. She took orders for body parts via Hotmail, email records show. 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. 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. Hoping to get answers, Denver7 visited Hess home in Montrose. Funeral Director Daily take: I have a hard time fathoming what may have went on at this funeral home. "It's concerning to the court that defendant Hess refuses to assume any responsibility for her conduct.". According to Jeffersonville Police Major Isaac Parker, the department began its investigation of the Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center in Jeffersonville on Friday. Pictures show bodies stacked in hallways and unrefrigerated rental trucks. In Colorado, there are few regulations to catch shoddy behavior, such as illegitimate body trading, by mortuaries. The indictment accuses Kent of allowing his wife to go out to death scenes as a deputy coroner, even though she took no oath and an appointment had not been filed with the county clerk, as required by law. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Charles Lynch to pay them a last tribute. . 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. (McGovern said no industry regulated by the Division of Professions and Occupations has regulators assigned exclusively to it.) After an extensive investigation into this and dozens of similar cases, federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged the owners of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, on suspicion of illegally brokering the body parts of deceased individuals they were hired to cremate. Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. His head and his arms from his elbows to his fingers, his legs from his knees to his toes, had been removed from his body and they had been sold.. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. Twenty-five of the brokers were for-profit corporations. Connie Hansons sons body parts were also allegedly sold. "Hess and Koch's conduct caused immense emotional pain for the families and next of kin.". I told them it didnt make sense, Mabry said. Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. I said I dont want to hear anymore.. At the time of publication, no charges had been filed against the coroner, though Colorado has suspended the business licenses for both funeral homes. 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. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. 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. "We don't even have a name for a crime this heinous. ), Windsors Newest Hot Spot is Open and Smells of Glorious Bacon [Photos], The Cheapest Home in Weld County is Selling for Less Than $90K, Local Fort Collins Photographer Wins 3rd Grammy in the Visual Arts, WATCH: This Deleted Scene From The Office Totally Calls Out Colorado, The 2023 Cheyenne Frontier Days Concert Lineup Has Been Announced, This Weeks Larimer Countys Most Wanted: Dallas Rusk, 3 Northern Colorado Districts in Top 10 for Slow Internet Access, New Life Planned for this Beloved Greeley Building, the dark history behind the town's funeral home, READ: This 1993 Steamboat Springs Murder Became One of the Nation's Most Chilling Cases. She says Shirley Koch came to pick up his body. One ex-employee, Kari Escher, said she was especially troubled by the practices of Hesss mother, Shirley Koch, who works at the facility. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. 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. Body brokering is not illegal in Colorado; however, a 2020 Denver7 report noted that Hess, along with her mother, were donating bodies without the consent of the deceased's family. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. She did. Pettyjohn now lives with the memory of what happened to the body of her 26-year-old son, Brian. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. There are no ethics there when you do that. 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.