According to the Johnstown, N.Y. Police Department, Brian M. Barnett, 35, who owns the since-shuttered Ehle . 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. Reuters began examining the Hess companies more than a year ago as part of the news agencys exploration of the human body trade, a virtually unregulated industry that largely operates in the shadows. The suspension order details a 2019 instance in which an unnamed individual arranged with Kents funeral home for the cremation of their stillborn child. 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 . The other nine were structured as nonprofits, including Donor Services the only broker Reuters could find that still doubles as a funeral home. 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. 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. A Medical Examiner can often discover hidden evidence of injury to explain a sudden death, or can document natural diseases to show that no foul play was involved in the death. He has served as Lake County coroner since 2012 and was reelected to a four-year term in November 2018. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems. 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. 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. Be an organ donor, a slogan often used by organ transplant advocates. And as of. 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. High Country News reports that, duringthe initial investigation, the FBI tested 128 samples of remains tied to Sunset Mesa. Two Colorado funeral homes are under criminal investigation after authorities found a unrefrigerated body and learned that at least one family had received a stillborns cremains mixed with portions of adult remains as well as metal fragments. Its not something that can be fixed., Hancock was notified by the FBI that her husbands body parts had been sold without her consent. 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. Its sickening, said Hanson. Chantal Reh, an Avon resident, went through a similar experience when she suffered a stillborn birth in August 2018. 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. And much like E.W. ", Tina Shanon, whose mother was dismembered against her will, told the court, "I've worn many masks to cover the pain. Non-compete agreements, Customer Experience, Community Engagement. The Donor Services brochure was criticized as deceptive by two major U.S. organ donation groups after Reuters shared it with them. 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. She was sold, embalmed and shipped out within just a few hours of her death, said Holloman. 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. 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. His two shoulders went somewhere else. Its for the good of the world, and I like to help people, Hess said. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our. Donor Services has circulated a brochure that reads: Be a hero. He had been dismembered. Before referring questions to a lawyer, Hess spoke extensively with Reuters about her body broker company. According to Reuters Sunset Mesa Funeral Home had seen their call volume increase from 59 in 2015 to 128 in 2017. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. Both Hess and Koch originally had pleaded not guilty to the charges. Investigators discovered 31 dead bodies, some of which were in advanced stages of decomposition. At Sunset Mesa, Hess charged $1,995 for a simple burial and $695 for a basic cremation, according to price lists reviewed by Reuters. The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. 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. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. 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. 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. 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. Officials also found the "post-cremation remains" of 16 people, according . 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Ive had nightmares about it, said Fredericka Freddie Hancock. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. 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. a contrarian view? On Oct. 13, the state shut down both the Gypsum operation and . 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. 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. 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. Reuters Investigates offers several ways to securely contact our reporters. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. Both have become experts on the secret industry of selling body parts on a world wide market. Propel Funeral Partners makes acquisitions. This comes after a dozen . She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado. The name of the state is derived form the Spanish . According to Jeffersonville Police Major Isaac Parker, the department began its investigation of the Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center in Jeffersonville on Friday. 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. 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. When Mabry and Eberspacher went to Sunset Mesa the morning after Dunlap died, Hess and Koch said they could not locate the eye, Eberspacher said. Last August, police received a complaint that funds provided to. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. 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. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. 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. In Colorado, there are few regulations to catch shoddy behavior, such as illegitimate body trading, by mortuaries. The eye was never returned, said Eberspacher and Dunlaps friend, Ron Mabry. Why Donor Services was unable to trace Dunlaps head remains unclear. Hess had created a nonprofit organization in 2009 called Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation as a body-broker service doing business as Donor Services, authorities said. In mid-November, she wrote an email to a surgical training company saying that she could supply a human torso, according to messages reviewed by Reuters. I told them it didnt make sense, Mabry said. Colorado regulators have shut down the funeral home. No federal law prohibits the buying and selling of human body parts to be used in research and education. That's part of my nightmare. The true-crime podcast "Criminal," which covered the story in its 131st episode, reports that when Grand Junction resident Debbie Schum visited Sunset Mesa after the death of her friend in 2017, the funeral home's director, Megan Hess, told Schum that she could not provide cremation services unless Schum paid her $1,000 upfront. There are currently 350 funeral home listings for the state of Colorado and we provide all the cemetery information for the state as well. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Thats when E.W. . Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Jacque Hampson spent a year working as Hesss personal assistant. 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. Megan Hess, the former operator of a Montrose funeral home convicted of selling body parts without family consent, was . 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. 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. 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). The charges defray the cost of picking up the deceased, she said in the 2016 interview. She told Contact7 Investigates that she heard bodies being dismembered. They desecrated his little body, she said. You are looking at how to make money.. Updated: 8:07 PM MDT September 14, 2021. 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. Two Colorado funeral homes are under criminal investigation after authorities found a unrefrigerated body and learned that at least one family had received a stillborn's cremains mixed. heres a recap of our months top stories, Carriage Services reports Services and Revenue drops in 2022. Koch's central role was chopping up the bodies, court records show. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. 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. In 2020, authorities charged the two with mail fraud and illegal transportation of hazardous materials. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. 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. In Colorado, the states organ donation program, Donor Alliance, said Hesss marketing language could be confusing to people.. What You Need To Know. The legislation has support from the state's largest trade association for funeral homes, the Colorado Funeral Directors Association. 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. are acquisitions larger in general? Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. 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. 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. 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. Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. 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. No one would pick up the phone. 06, 2021. Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas is accused of a range of misdeeds, from not embalming or refrigerating bodies in a . Koch told the judge she was sorry and took responsibility for her actions. Reuters identified 34 body brokers that have been active across the United States during the past five years. 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 . A few days later, she was able to pick up the cremains, but like E.W., Cavanagh received no paperwork. Her funeral home site listed her credentials, including a PhD in mortuary science. [wpforms id=436 title=true description=true]. Hancocks story started after her husband, Thomas, passed away. The news agency had also sent written questions to Hess and her attorney about Kochs alleged handling of gold teeth. More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives, Got a confidential news tip? Few state laws provide any oversight. Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. . Twenty-six victims described their horror at discovering what had happened to their loved ones. Torsos are a popular specimen these days, she wrote. SCI 4Q Revenue and Year End Revenue lower than comparables, Funeral Director Daily, The business of Funeral Care. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The 20-year term was the maximum allowed under law. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. Reuters could not independently verify this figure. 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. 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. (McGovern said no industry regulated by the Division of Professions and Occupations has regulators assigned exclusively to it.) "It's concerning to the court that defendant Hess refuses to assume any responsibility for her conduct.". We did not provide our messaging to be repurposed in this brochure, and are following up, said spokeswoman Erin Dolin. The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately. But no federal law governs the sale of cadavers or body parts for use in research or education. A change of plea hearing for Koch is scheduled for July 12. some timely learning opportunities for our readers, Dont forget Low-tech to build your brand. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. 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. Hess continues running a dual operation. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. Did you ever consent to have this family mutilate your husbands body? asked Denver7. 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. According to theDenver Post, prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Hess this year regarding a 2020 indictment against her and her mother. The New York Times, a far-left outlet, admitted in a report that Trump's rollback of a rule from President Barack 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. Subscribe to Funeral Director Daily Like many, Hanson found out about her son Frederick during a phone call from an FBI agent. No one would pick up the phone. Escher said Koch, who embalmed and dismembered bodies, pulled teeth from some of the corpses to extract the gold in crowns or fillings. 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. No one returned her voicemails. 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. It only investigates a funeral home if a complaint is filed, he said. Enter your email address to join 3,177 readers who subscribe to all Funeral Director articles. DENVER -- To many it is simply the unthinkable. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. 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. "This is the most emotionally draining. 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. She showed Denver7 the container that she was given. After receiving the cremains, E.W. 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. by Mr. Leadville | Oct 26, 2020 | Leadville News. These illegitimate businesses are buying and selling body parts just like anything off the shelf at Walmart, added Teselle. 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 is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because when it became the 38th state, the United States turned 100 on August 1, 1876. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. A body bag was found to be leaking bodily fluids along with a container of animal remains which was also leaking fluids. But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. Hess is tentatively set to be sentenced in January. Chantal Reh. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 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. 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. 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. parents are now under investigation by the FBI. At the nursing home, Eberspacher said she reminded Koch that the glass eye was supposed to be returned and suggested it be popped out there. This is a way we can eliminate or alleviate the black market on body parts, Crowder added. There, authorities also found dried bodily fluid on surgical equipment, the metal preparation table, and the floor. As funeral directors, while we dont do everything perfect, we should have the best interest of our client families at heart. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Charles Lynch to pay them a last tribute. N.Y. 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. At the focal point of the FBI probe: funeral director Megan Hess, who did not return Fox News request for a comment. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. These people deserve to know why what was done to them was done to them. 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 recent parade of early deaths has hit close to home. Its tentacles go throughout not only the country but the world.. 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. and Cavanagh, Reh had an immensely difficult time reaching the Kents, the phone ringing unanswered for weeks. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. Her father, Alan Koch, ran the crematory, Hess said. Sam Tabachnik is a roving reporter for The Denver Post, focusing on stories outside metro Denver. She said she and her mother, Koch, handled about 10 cadavers a month in the back room. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Staci Kent arrived to one of those death scenes without a body bag, which spurred an argument with authorities, the indictment notes. Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors of Montrose handled the funeral . One of Hesss donors was Rex Dunlap, a frugal Coloradan battling brain cancer. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. 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.
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