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. 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. Details uncovered in the FBI investigation were shared with her. 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. 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.. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. The Bailey-Kent Funeral Home was the only option given to her for cremation under a certain weight, she said. Megan Hess, a former Colorado funeral home director, chopped up over 500 . When Schum hesitated, Hess said she would waive the cremation fee if Schum agreed to donate her friend's bladder to science. 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. Last August, police received a complaint that funds provided to. More by The Associated Press, Got a story tip? The federal inquiry began several months ago, shortly after Reuters interviewed a half-dozen workers who formerly worked for Hess. Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images. 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. 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. Neither addressed the issue about the teeth. However, on Thursday, Colorado police arrested Shannon and Staci Kent after finding a decaying corpse in a funeral home they previously operated. Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. Chantal Reh. 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. The remains Hess returned to families were also not those of their loved ones. . Hess continues running a dual operation. There are no ethics there when you do that. 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. I'll never be OK.". No one would pick up the phone. 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. Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. 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. 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. 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. Thank you, she said before ending the call. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. 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. Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors of Montrose handled the funeral . 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. She said she and her mother, Koch, handled about 10 cadavers a month in the back room. 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. It is illegal in the United States to sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant; they must be donated. 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. That means almost anyone, regardless of expertise, can dissect and sell human remains. Body brokers like Donor Services are also known as non-transplant tissue banks. . Sam Tabachnik is a roving reporter for The Denver Post, focusing on stories outside metro Denver. 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. Most brokers who sell body parts offer to cremate part of the donors body for free. No such degree exists in the United States for morticians, veteran funeral directors say. Dunlap left one specific instruction: The glass eye that hed worn since a childhood accident should be removed and sent to his best friend. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. By: Tony Kovaleski Posted at 6:00 PM, Oct 31, 2019 Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. . There, authorities also found dried bodily fluid on surgical equipment, the metal preparation table, and the floor. Other charges against Hess will . Reuters could find no other operation active in the United States that houses a funeral home, crematory and body broker in the same facility and under the same ownership. They cut him up in pieces and sent them all over the place.. Specifics of the scope of theFBI investigation are unclear. 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. 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. Reuters Investigates offers several ways to securely contact our reporters. She told Contact7 Investigates that she heard bodies being dismembered. Bailey-Kent Funeral Home, pictured at left, is one of two funeral homes owned by Shannon Kent now under criminal investigation. 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). 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. When Reuters visited her facility in 2016, Hess said Donor Services represented just 15 percent or so of her total business. 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. All rights reserved. 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. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. (William Woody, Special to the Colorado Sun), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, (720) 263-2338 Call, text, Signal or WhatsApp, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. 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. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Charles Lynch to pay them a last tribute. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. 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. She took orders for body parts via Hotmail, email records show. I said I dont want to hear anymore.. 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. Other staff members also said that it was never disclosed to donor families that the corpses would be sold for profit a potentially illegal practice. Staci Kent arrived to one of those death scenes without a body bag, which spurred an argument with authorities, the indictment notes. Her funeral home site listed her credentials, including a PhD in mortuary science. 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. Twenty-six victims described their horror at discovering what had happened to their loved ones. You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). POCATELLO, Idaho A Pocatello funeral home under investigation by the Idaho Board of Morticians has had its licenses revoked. 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. A spokeswoman for Donate LifeAmerica said in an email that Hesss firm is not a federally designated organ procurement organization and has no permission to use the Donate Life brand. In the late aughts, the town of Montrose, Colorado, made national headlines. Hess made donating a body online easy. Non-compete agreements, Customer Experience, Community Engagement. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. As she mourned the loss of her son, Cavanagh was referred to the Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum to do the cremation. We did not provide our messaging to be repurposed in this brochure, and are following up, said spokeswoman Erin Dolin. (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. The lawsuit estimates the three were making $40,000 a month from the sale of body parts. 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. 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 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. 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. Donating bodies, selling the parts: Frequently asked questions. Ive been violated, said Alena Holloman. 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. 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. Body brokers sometimes market their services using language that could mislead prospective donors into believing the broker handles organ donations. Be an organ donor, a slogan often used by organ transplant advocates. 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. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Before referring questions to a lawyer, Hess spoke extensively with Reuters about her body broker company. 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. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. Hancocks story started after her husband, Thomas, passed away. . Suppliers of transplant tissue must obtain federal recognition and operate as charities. Below, find out where 25 of the most infamous crimes in history took place and what the locations are used for today. ", Tina Shanon, whose mother was dismembered against her will, told the court, "I've worn many masks to cover the pain. Prosecutors said she lied to more than 200 families, who received cremated ashes from bins mixed with the remains of different cadavers. Megan Hess, 46, operated the Sunset Mesa funeral home in Montrose, Colorado, alongside a body-parts entity called Donor Services, where she undertook the grisly scheme, starting in 2010. The 20-year term was the maximum allowed under law. 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. 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. "We don't even have a name for a crime this heinous. 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 FBI told me] his head was sent to so and so. 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. 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. Authorities are now investigating. He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. . 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. He had been dismembered. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. With heavy hearts, we announce the death of Arnold Roger Tesnow (Colorado Springs, Colorado), born in Worth, Illinois, who passed away on February 25, 2023 at the age of 78. Megan Hess, the former operator of a Montrose funeral home convicted of selling body parts without family consent, was . 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. And much like E.W. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. We were greeted at the door by her father, who told us to leave the property. I see his body parts floating in space and I keep trying to grab them and put him back and I can't! No one returned her voicemails. Its for the good of the world, and I like to help people, Hess said. N.Y. Reuters identified 34 body brokers that have been active across the United States during the past five years. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. On her cremation marketing website, a donor could simply select from a drop-down menu, fill out a few forms, click Add to Cart, and enter a credit card number. 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. The name of the state is derived form the Spanish . 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. Instead, the media was interested in the dark history behind the town's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. Investigation into the allegations are ongoing with the Texas Funeral Services . Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. 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. Chantal Reh, an Avon resident, went through a similar experience when she suffered a stillborn birth in August 2018. The lawsuit claims the three sold torsos for $1,000, a pelvis with upper legs for $1,200. Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. Escher said Koch, who embalmed and dismembered bodies, pulled teeth from some of the corpses to extract the gold in crowns or fillings. Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas is accused of a range of misdeeds, from not embalming or refrigerating bodies in a . On Oct. 13, the state shut down both the Gypsum operation and . The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. Her father, Alan Koch, ran the crematory, Hess said. To betray that help, in a way that the businesses here are alleged to have done, brings nothing but a lack of credibility to all funeral service professionals. Bailey-Kent Funeral Home, pictured at left, is one of two funeral homes owned by Shannon Kent now under criminal investigation. Instead of paying the standard $695 cremation fee to . 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. A body bag was found to be leaking bodily fluids along with a container of animal remains which was also leaking fluids. 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. 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. Megan Hess, the owner of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, and her parents are now under investigation by the FBI. 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. Market data provided by Factset. Body snatcher, vile, pure evil, sociopath, are the words they used when asked to describe Hess. Fo The New York Times, a far-left outlet, admitted in a report that Trump's rollback of a rule from President Barack 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. 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. "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. Earlier this month, authorities from both Lake and Eagle counties encountered a strong odor of decomposition when they searched the Leadville funeral home, reads. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. 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. 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.. According to Reuters Sunset Mesa Funeral Home had seen their call volume increase from 59 in 2015 to 128 in 2017. The Green Funeral. Officials also found the "post-cremation remains" of 16 people, according . As funeral directors, while we dont do everything perfect, we should have the best interest of our client families at heart. But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. However, there was more going on beneath the surface. I saw a lot inside as far as, you know, body parts and things like that. She continued, But I was oblivious to what was going on. The back of the brochure featured the logo Donate Life, the national brand that promotes organ donation and is managed by Donate Life America, a nonprofit group. In one instance, on March 10, 2019, Staci Kent was significantly delayed to the scene because the van she was using to pick up the body had a dead battery, bald tires and was buried in snow, prosecutors alleged. The price list is from an Arizona company shut down after an FBI raid five years ago. According to the Johnstown, N.Y. Police Department, Brian M. Barnett, 35, who owns the since-shuttered Ehle . Im not interested. Few state laws provide any oversight. According to theDenver Post, prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Hess this year regarding a 2020 indictment against her and her mother. Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. The federal case was triggered by a 2016-2018 Reuters investigative series about the sale of body parts in the United States, a virtually unregulated industry. Thousands more patients could benefit from life saving and healing eye and tissue donations.. A price quote Hess sent to an Arizona medical training lab in 2016 offered torsos for $1,000 each. 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 Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. 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. High Country News reports that, duringthe initial investigation, the FBI tested 128 samples of remains tied to Sunset Mesa. Why Donor Services was unable to trace Dunlaps head remains unclear. 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.
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