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Megan Hess, the former operator of a Montrose funeral home convicted of selling body parts without family consent, was . He covers everything from stolen art and towing to mobile homes and quirky stories that defy category. The gruesome details of the case which authorities say included more than 500 victims drew international attention and shined a light on the . Two months later, after hearing nothing from Hess, Schum went to Sunset Mesa to retrieve her friend's ashes. 06, 2021. Officials also found the "post-cremation remains" of 16 people, according . The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. The states Department of Regulatory Agencies said it has nine open complaints about Sunset Mesa higher than average for funeral homes in the state, said spokesman Lee Rasizer. It can't be fixed, said Hancock. 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 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. 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. She said, No, no, well take care of that first thing in the morning, recalled Eberspacher. 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. At Donor Services, her body parts business, Hess can generate a greater return on the dead, a different price list reviewed by Reuters showed. Its a profit business. The fact that now the business is also making money from the sale of body parts if that is not being told to the family, it is unethical and probably illegal, if only as deception, said Robert Fells, general counsel of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association, an industry trade group. are acquisitions larger in general? . 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. Colorado Funeral Home / Body Broker Continues Under Investigation Finally, after a month, she got Staci Kent on the phone and laid into her, asking why she hadnt heard anything about her sons cremains. Funeral homes owned by a Colorado coroner under investigation following This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Staci Kent arrived to one of those death scenes without a body bag, which spurred an argument with authorities, the indictment notes. Emmanuel Macron shared his vision of a renewed partnership with Africa in which it stands equal with France, as he concluded a tour where he has sought to dispel France's image as an arrogant former colonial power whilst bidding for future influence. "Hess and Koch's conduct caused immense emotional pain for the families and next of kin.". 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. Megan Hess, the owner of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, and her parents are now under investigation by the FBI. Think about it, the FBI came in and raided them, and they raided them because they knew this body broker this was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, said Berg. Body of complaints piled up: State knew of funeral home concerns long Escher said Koch, who embalmed and dismembered bodies, pulled teeth from some of the corpses to extract the gold in crowns or fillings. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. Instead, the media was interested in the dark history behind the town's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately. Colorado funeral home owners sentenced to federal prison for selling 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 . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. It was kind of creepy.. Bodies Found in Unlicensed Funeral Home: Police At her funeral home, Hess charged families up to $1,000 for cremations that never occurred, prosecutors said, and she offered others free cremations in exchange for a body donation. But the business arrangement is highly unusual. 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. 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. There is also evidence of Donor Services shipping at least 26 boxes containing body parts to various parts of the world in 2016 according to evidence that has been recovered. On Monday, the family of Ramon Lara Castillo a 63-year-old Nashville house painter who succumbed to liver cancer in October 2020 filed a federal lawsuit against former funeral director Reid Van Ness and the operators of a funeral home in Lewisburg, Tenn. Roommates and friends of Castillo paid Van Ness $1,800 to ship the body home to his . Woman Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Selling Body Parts This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. 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. Body brokers like Donor Services are also known as non-transplant tissue banks. Prosecutors said she lied to more than 200 families, who received cremated ashes from bins mixed with the remains of different cadavers. "This is the most emotionally draining. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. 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 . 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. We did not provide our messaging to be repurposed in this brochure, and are following up, said spokeswoman Erin Dolin. You are looking at how to make money.. Sam Tabachnik is a roving reporter for The Denver Post, focusing on stories outside metro Denver. No one returned her voicemails. The Daily Sentinel reportsthat Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction. According to Reuters Sunset Mesa Funeral Home had seen their call volume increase from 59 in 2015 to 128 in 2017. Other charges against Hess will . 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. Source: Bodies stacked up at Jeffersonville funeral home after - WDRB The price list is from an Arizona company shut down after an FBI raid five years ago. "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. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. The FBI hired a lab to test the cremains given to the families, and they have determined the boxes of ash contain cement, sand and other non-human particles. Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. Body brokers sometimes market their services using language that could mislead prospective donors into believing the broker handles organ donations. Legal Statement. and Cavanagh, Reh had an immensely difficult time reaching the Kents, the phone ringing unanswered for weeks. The funeral home's owners, Megan Hess, 43, and her mother . In Colorado and most other states, it also is legal for funeral homes to sell items recovered from dead bodies, such as gold dental work. 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. Email address: Colorado Funeral Home / Body Broker Continues Under Investigation, Acquisitions, buy-outs, creative ideas. 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. ThinkStock via Getty Images. 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. Its for the good of the world, and I like to help people, Hess 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. Reached by phone at Sunset Mesa, Koch said she did not wish to talk with a Reuters reporter. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. First published on Wed 6 Jul 2022 10.36 EDT. On January 8, 2011, U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords and 18 others were shot during a constituent meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in the Tucson metropolitan area. 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 asked if it contained her husbands cremains, she said, I dont know.. State Bans Coroner Shannon Kent From Private Business After Remains, Waste Found At Home-Based Colorado Funeral Home December 3, 2020 / 7:33 AM / CBS Colorado A price list uncovered during an ongoing lawsuit against an Arizona body broker provides insight into the value of body parts and the profits that can be produced. 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 . No such degree exists in the United States for morticians, veteran funeral directors say. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. The New York Times, a far-left outlet, admitted in a report that Trump's rollback of a rule from President Barack You know, they can't put his head back on his body, they can't put his arms and legs back on his body. Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors of Montrose handled the funeral . The allegations of offering free services and then selling body parts without the knowledge of the client family is beyond my scope of thinking as to what funeral directors should be doing. Such multipurpose operations raise ethical concerns, several funeral industry veterans said. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. In 2020, authorities charged the two with mail fraud and illegal transportation of hazardous materials. My mother and my mothers body has been desecrated.. Amid FBI investigation, state closes case on Montrose funeral home 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. Funeral homes owned by Lake County coroner under investigation 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. Hiring funeral directors: Do you look for IQ or EQ? Earlier this month, authorities from both Lake and Eagle counties encountered a strong odor of decomposition when they searched the Leadville funeral home, reads. Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. This compassionate help is the essence of what we do. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. 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. After contacting Hess in December about the content of the brochure, Dolin said Hess told the organ transplant group that the brochure in question was old and has not been used for some time.. The 20-year term was the maximum allowed under law. The emotional, daylong hearing brought to a close a five-year legal odyssey that began when the FBI raided the funeral home in February 2018, following a Reuters investigation that found Sunset Mesa to be unlike any other business in the country. Colorado Funeral Home Caught Selling Bodies Intended For Cremation Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years for selling Chantal Reh, an Avon resident, went through a similar experience when she suffered a stillborn birth in August 2018. "Our sweet mother, they dismembered her," Erin Smith said, selling her shoulders, knees and feet for profit. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. The charges defray the cost of picking up the deceased, she said in the 2016 interview. Colorado Funeral Homes. There, authorities also found dried bodily fluid on surgical equipment, the metal preparation table, and the floor. Bankman-Fried can have flip phone, limited internet while on bail, US proposes, Biden assembles team of allies to boost re-election campaign, Reporting by John Shiffman; Editing by Paul Simao and Richard Chang, Michigan judge dismisses school staff as defendants in lawsuits over mass shooting, American Airlines, flight attendants union seek mediation in contract negotiations, Macron ends Africa tour with wish for fair reset of ties, Turkey's Erdogan dismisses opposition split and says his ruling alliance will stay on same path, Turkey's pro-Kurdish party calls for opposition unity after split, In Turkey's quake-devasted city of Antakya, an antiques seller is determined to stay put, Eni agrees deal with UAE's ADNOC as Italy rebuilds relationship, Exclusive news, data and analytics for financial market professionals. It is illegal in the United States to sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant; they must be donated. Propel Funeral Partners makes acquisitions. Koch told the judge she was sorry and took responsibility for her actions. a contrarian view? MONTROSE, Colo. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. 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. The report also noted that a former employee at Sunset Mesa was troubled by Hess mother, who was responsible for embalming and dismembering the dead bodies. Reuters 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 owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. While operating Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, Hess and Koch sold remains of the deceased for body broker services without family consent and gave families ashes that were. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. I said I dont want to hear anymore.. Colorado woman sentenced to 20 years for stealing, selling body parts Market data provided by Factset. Montrose, Colorado: A former funeral home operator pleads guilty to SCI 4Q Revenue and Year End Revenue lower than comparables, Funeral Director Daily, The business of Funeral Care. The remains Hess returned to families were also not those of their loved ones. Thousands more patients could benefit from life saving and healing eye and tissue donations.. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. This is a way we can eliminate or alleviate the black market on body parts, Crowder added. 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. 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. 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). The 20-year term was the maximum allowed under law. 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. 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. In Colorado, the states organ donation program, Donor Alliance, said Hesss marketing language could be confusing to people.. . Why Donor Services was unable to trace Dunlaps head remains unclear. Chantal Reh. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. 31 decomposed bodies, cremated remains discovered during Clark - WAVE However, on Thursday, Colorado police arrested Shannon and Staci Kent after finding a decaying corpse in a funeral home they previously operated. (Google). 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. Her revised online biography cited her high school degree and a love of veterinary medicine.. 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 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. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. Colorado Funeral Homes, funeral flowers & funeral planning But it provided an important public service, she said. Kent also still faces second-degree official misconduct charges stemming from a September 2019 grand jury indictment in the Fifth Judicial District. 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. 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. A human head and spine sold for $850, while a full pelvis all the way to the toes priced out at $2,850. The state's Department of Regulatory Agencies. Colorado Ordway Funeral Homes Eaton Family Funeral Home Eaton Family Funeral Home in Ordway 202 E 3rd St Ordway, CO 81063 (719) 267-4221 Click to show location on map Zoom About Eaton Family Funeral Home We understand that losing a loved one can be a very stressful time. Its really an underground industry that most people dont know about, said attorney Michael Burg. Licenses revoked for Pocatello funeral home - KTVB 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. These people deserve to know why what was done to them was done to them. Colorado regulators have shut down the funeral home. Meme Eberspacher, Dunlaps niece, was at his bedside the night that Dunlap died. PUBLISHED 8:21 PM CT Apr. The name of the state is derived form the Spanish . 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. 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 . High Country News reports that, duringthe initial investigation, the FBI tested 128 samples of remains tied to Sunset Mesa. That's part of my nightmare. Learn more about Colorado true crime stories in the gallery below. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. Reuters could not independently verify this figure. MONTROSE, Colo. (CBS4) - Federal authorities raided a funeral home in Montrose on Tuesday, at which the owner is under investigation for a side-business donating bodies for education and. The recent parade of early deaths has hit close to home. 2011 Tucson shooting - Wikipedia Unfortunately, the attention wasn't focused on the town's natural beauty or tourism opportunities. But days went by and she couldnt reach anyone. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. 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. 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. As she mourned the loss of her son, Cavanagh was referred to the Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum to do the cremation. The next year,. 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. Her funeral home site listed her credentials, including a PhD in mortuary science. Investigation into the allegations are ongoing with the Texas Funeral Services . some timely learning opportunities for our readers, Dont forget Low-tech to build your brand. Funeral Home Owner Brian Barnett Faces Charges in N.Y. Probe - Law & Crime 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. 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. 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. 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. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. Funeral homes owned by a Colorado coroner under investigation following 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. 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.. No federal law prohibits the buying and selling of human body parts to be used in research and education. 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).