A human head and spine sold for $850, while a full pelvis all the way to the toes priced out at $2,850. Thank you, she said before ending the call. 06, 2021. He covers everything from stolen art and towing to mobile homes and quirky stories that defy category. Reuters identified 34 body brokers that have been active across the United States during the past five years. 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. The Daily Sentinel Megan Hess a contrarian view? 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. Legal Statement. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. Authorities are now investigating. (If they've been left standing. Updated: 8:07 PM MDT September 14, 2021. [wpforms id=436 title=true description=true]. 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. 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. 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. 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 other nine were structured as nonprofits, including Donor Services the only broker Reuters could find that still doubles as a funeral home. She mentioned on several occasions about how much money she would be getting per month, which blew my mind, said Jennifer Henderson, a former floral designer for Sunset Mesa. 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 . . State Bans Coroner Shannon Kent From Private Business After Remains As she mourned the loss of her son, Cavanagh was referred to the Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum to do the cremation. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July 2022 after a 2018 investigation that exposed her for selling parts of dead bodies that were brought to the funeral home for cremation. I know these are not his ashes because his body parts went all over the country, Hanson said. Some former staff members of Sunset Mesa said they never heard Hess disclose to donors that the bodies would be sold for profit. High Country News reports that, duringthe initial investigation, the FBI tested 128 samples of remains tied to Sunset Mesa. Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years for selling Kent operates six funeral homes in the states high country, which also include Buena Vista, Fairplay, Idaho Springs, and Silverthorne. Hansons box included wires and what appear to be old batteries. NBC10 . 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. . He has served as Lake County coroner since 2012 and was reelected to a four-year term in November 2018. N.Y. Nursing Home Under Investigation After Woman Declared Dead Found Officials also found the "post-cremation remains" of 16 people, according . 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. Do You Remember the Dark History of This Colorado Funeral Home? Take a look at some of Colorado's most notorious crimes. In an interview in 2016, she described Donor Services as a small, family business. 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. She signed a contract with a Montrose funeral home to have his body cremated. The Donor Services brochure was criticized as deceptive by two major U.S. organ donation groups after Reuters shared it with them. Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years for selling Colorado funeral home owner Megan Hess and her mother who sold body Hoping to get answers, Denver7 visited Hess home in Montrose. 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. Koch told the judge she was sorry and took responsibility for her actions. Bailey-Kent Funeral Home, pictured at left, is one of two funeral homes owned by Shannon Kent now under criminal investigation. 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. Earlier this month, authorities from both Lake and Eagle counties encountered a strong odor of decomposition when they searched the Leadville funeral home, reads. "Our sweet mother, they dismembered her," Erin Smith said, selling her shoulders, knees and feet for profit. 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. Thats when E.W. Funeral home owner who dismembered corpses, sold body parts sentenced (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. 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. 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. No one returned her voicemails. With a population of about 20,000, Montrose is a community surrounded by the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Though Koch dissected bodies in the back room at Sunset Mesa, they claimed that the body had to be sent out for harvesting, Eberspacher said. And much like E.W. Suppliers of transplant tissue must obtain federal recognition and operate as charities. Sunset Mesa Funeral Home Operators Arrested For Illegal Body Part They were affiliated with her funeral business. 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 Lancaster County funeral home under investigation for misconduct The body was identified by fingerprints as Victor Akubuo, 42, from Southern . Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. 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. Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. 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. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. 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. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. This comes after a dozen . Hess' lawyer said she has been unfairly vilified as a "witch," a "monster" and a "ghoul," when instead she is a "broken human being" whose conduct can be attributed to a traumatic brain injury at age 18. Sam Tabachnik is a roving reporter for The Denver Post, focusing on stories outside metro Denver. 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. Prior to the raid, the cost of purchasing an arm and shoulder was $600. In 2018, Schum got a call from FBI Special Agent John Busch, who told her that Sunset Mesa had sold not just her friend's body, but many others. The next year,. Her funeral home site listed her credentials, including a PhD in mortuary science. In 2020, authorities charged the two with mail fraud and illegal transportation of hazardous materials. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. Reuters could not independently verify this figure. She said that one month she got about $40,000 from selling donated bodies. The gruesome details of the case which authorities say included more than 500 victims drew international attention and shined a light on the . The federal inquiry began several months ago, shortly after Reuters interviewed a half-dozen workers who formerly worked for Hess. Specifics of the scope of theFBI investigation are unclear. First published on Wed 6 Jul 2022 10.36 EDT. There are no ethics there when you do that.. Propel Funeral Partners makes acquisitions. It is a business and it is a profit business, added Burg. After reading the states suspension order this week, two women told The Denver Post that the circumstances surrounding E.W. sound eerily familiar. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. 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. At Donor Services, her body parts business, Hess can generate a greater return on the dead, a different price list reviewed by Reuters showed. 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. 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. 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. A pelvis with upper legs went for $1,200, heads for $500, a knee for $250, and a foot for $125, according to a 2013 Donor Services price list reviewed by Reuters. Its for the good of the world, and I like to help people, Hess said. Crapaud funeral home being investigated for allegations of financial Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. No one would pick up the phone. 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. A few days later, she was able to pick up the cremains, but like E.W., Cavanagh received no paperwork. N.Y. 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 The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. And as of. 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). More by The Associated Press, Got a story tip? See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Funeral home owners charged with desecrating human remains 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. Its sickening, said Hanson. 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. In 2009, Hess also created a nonprofit called Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation, d/b/a Donor Services, a body broker service operated out of the same location as SMFD. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. 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. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. Lynette "Diamond" Hardaway's Cause of Death Revealed The price list is from an Arizona company shut down after an FBI raid five years ago. Kent also still faces second-degree official misconduct charges stemming from a September 2019 grand jury indictment in the Fifth Judicial District. 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 . Mabry said Koch told him the glass eye couldnt be removed after Dunlaps head was severed, embalmed and shipped to researchers. Ive had nightmares about it, said Fredericka Freddie Hancock. 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. Like many, Hanson found out about her son Frederick during a phone call from an FBI agent.
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