By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our. 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. In Colorado, the states organ donation program, Donor Alliance, said Hesss marketing language could be confusing to people.. At Donor Services, her body parts business, Hess can generate a greater return on the dead, a different price list reviewed by Reuters showed. At Sunset Mesa, Hess charged $1,995 for a simple burial and $695 for a basic cremation, according to price lists reviewed by Reuters. 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. 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. Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. In the late aughts, the town of Montrose, Colorado, made national headlines. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 4th 2023 at 10:30 AM at the First Church of the Nazarene (505 E Beatty Ave, Yuma, CO 80759). Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 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. When Reuters visited her facility in 2016, Hess said Donor Services represented just 15 percent or so of her total business. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. The legislation has support from the state's largest trade association for funeral homes, the Colorado Funeral Directors Association. 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. Investigators discovered 31 dead bodies, some of which were in advanced stages of decomposition. Email:
[email protected] 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. 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. No one would pick up the phone. At the focal point of the FBI probe: funeral director Megan Hess, who did not return Fox News request for a comment. He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. or redistributed. Megan Hess, the owner of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, and her parents are now under investigation by the FBI. 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 FBI told me] his head was sent to so and so. Body snatcher, vile, pure evil, sociopath, are the words they used when asked to describe Hess. Just about any adult can run for coroner in Colorado. 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. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. And much like E.W. But it provided an important public service, she said. A former Colorado funeral home owner has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on charges of fraud and selling body parts without permission. After receiving the cremains, E.W. We did not provide our messaging to be repurposed in this brochure, and are following up, said spokeswoman Erin Dolin. I told them it didnt make sense, Mabry said. 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 . did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. The Daily Sentinel reports that Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction. 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. The name of the state is derived form the Spanish . But two said Hess sometimes bragged about how lucrative it was to sell bodies and body parts. It was kinda creepy., It is totally unregulated, said Burg. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. Extra charges are assessed if a body is embalmed or a funeral director is involved. 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. First published on Wed 6 Jul 2022 10.36 EDT. The reality of body brokers profiting from the sale of body parts has made national and international headlines following government raids in Arizona and Colorado in recent years. . 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. Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. Seeing how this chapter is opening up again is incredible, its unbelievable. As she mourned the loss of her son, Cavanagh was referred to the Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum to do the cremation. 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. She has been told parts of her husbands body were sold on the world-wide market. "Our sweet mother, they dismembered her," Erin Smith said, selling her shoulders, knees and feet for profit. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. As she mourned the loss of her son, Cavanagh was referred to the Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum to do the cremation. There, authorities also found dried bodily fluid on surgical equipment, the metal preparation table, and the floor. 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. Enter your email address to join 3,177 readers who subscribe to all Funeral Director articles. Last August, police received a complaint that funds provided to. It was kind of creepy.. No such degree exists in the United States for morticians, veteran funeral directors say. N.Y. I said I dont want to hear anymore.. 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. And much like E.W. Thank you for thinking of me.. by Mr. Leadville | Oct 26, 2020 | Leadville News. 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. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. "This is the most emotionally draining case I have ever experienced on the bench," U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello said during Tuesday's sentencing hearing in Grand Junction, Colorado. The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. There is even more money to be made in dissecting those bodies and selling the parts. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Chantal Reh. One of Hesss donors was Rex Dunlap, a frugal Coloradan battling brain cancer. Before referring questions to a lawyer, Hess spoke extensively with Reuters about her body broker company. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. After losing his ability to conduct cremation or funeral home services in December, Kent's Silverthorne funeral parlor sat empty until this month when the new tenant, Colorado Funeral Homes . Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello on Tuesday sentenced Hess, 46, to 20 years in prison the maximum allowable for her role in a nearly decade-long scheme to sell body parts without the. Funeral homes are required to register with the state, but spokesman Rasizer said the regulatory affairs department is not authorized to inspect mortuaries. A funeral home in Indiana is under investigation after allegedly falling behind on processing dead bodies for an unknown period of time, but at least a few months. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. It is a business and it is a profit business, added Burg. DENVER -- To many it is simply the unthinkable. 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. 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. . In Colorado, there are few regulations to catch shoddy behavior, such as illegitimate body trading, by mortuaries. 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. ThinkStock via Getty Images. When asked if it contained her husbands cremains, she said, I dont know.. 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. 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. 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. 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. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. They were affiliated with her funeral business. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. 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. 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. Colorado regulators shut Sunset Mesa down in February 2018, KMGH-TV reported. 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. They cut him up in pieces and sent them all over the place.. 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 . 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. The Bailey-Kent Funeral Home was the only option given to her for cremation under a certain weight, she said. 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. 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. Hess continues running a dual operation. (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. 06, 2021. Why their loved ones were stolen from them, and they were given back dry cement or sand and told it was loved ones ashes, said Teselle. Other charges against Hess will . MILLERSVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) A Lancaster County funeral home and its director are facing formal disciplinary action and are under investigation by the state. The NBC10 Investigators found bodies inside an unlicensed funeral home in Chester, Pennsylvania. Its a profit business. You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). Kent operates six funeral homes in the states high country, which also include Buena Vista, Fairplay, Idaho Springs, and Silverthorne. 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. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. A body bag was found to be leaking bodily fluids along with a container of animal remains which was also leaking fluids. 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. 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. 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. 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. Andrew Scheid has been the director at . The Daily Sentinel reportsthat Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. 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. 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.