Lake County coroner Shannon Kent owns both the Bailey-Kent Funeral Home in Leadville about 100 miles southeast of Denver and the Kent Funeral Home Gypsum about 133 miles west of the Mile High City, The Denver Post reported Friday. Since that time, according to the article, Reuters has not been able to find another business in the United States that operates a funeral home, crematory, and body broker business in the same location and operated by the same owner. 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. Hess made donating a body online easy. Prosecutors said she lied to more than 200 families, who received cremated ashes from bins mixed with the remains of different cadavers. 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. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. According to the Johnstown, N.Y. Police Department, Brian M. Barnett, 35, who owns the since-shuttered Ehle . The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. Reuters could not independently verify this figure. The attorney, Carol Viner, asked Reuters to refrain from contacting Hess employees for any reason.. They were arrested in 2020 and charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials. 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. Golden Gate's owner denies all allegations. 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. Denver attorneys Mike Berg and Dave Teselle now represent more than 50 families who claim Hess and her parents victimized them. 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. 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 . Her funeral home site listed her credentials, including a PhD in mortuary science. Email address: Colorado Funeral Home / Body Broker Continues Under Investigation, Acquisitions, buy-outs, creative ideas. 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. In 2020, authorities charged the two with mail fraud and illegal transportation of hazardous materials. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. 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. 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). 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. Investigation into the allegations are ongoing with the Texas Funeral Services . Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. 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. Holloman now deals with the guilt of knowing details of what happened to her moms body. 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. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Charles Lynch to pay them a last tribute. She showed Denver7 the container that she was given. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. . Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because when it became the 38th state, the United States turned 100 on August 1, 1876. In cases like Schum's, where a family did agree to donate a body part, Hess sold more than she had permission to. While Sunset Mesa legally is permitted to own and operate both businesses, Reuters found that there was no other active instance where a funeral home, crematory and body broker had the same owner and were in the same facility. Teselle said, Whats shocking to me is that theres not an outcry for there to be more legislation, theres not an outcry for the government to regulate and license these people.. Hess runs Sunset Mesa, a funeral home, and Donor Services, a body broker operation from the same building in Montrose. And much like E.W. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. A human head and spine sold for $850, while a full pelvis all the way to the toes priced out at $2,850. 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. 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. 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. . . 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 really an underground industry that most people dont know about, said attorney Michael Burg. 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. Non-compete agreements, Customer Experience, Community Engagement. An Upstate New York funeral home proprietor is facing imminent criminal charges for allegedly keeping dead human bodies in "advanced states of decomposition" in his business and its detached garage, local officials announced Friday. Separate from the FBI inquiry, Reuters has learned that Colorado state funeral regulators are investigating Hess's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. some timely learning opportunities for our readers, Dont forget Low-tech to build your brand. parents are now under investigation by the FBI. No such degree exists in the United States for morticians, veteran funeral directors say. 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 . 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. Meme Eberspacher, Dunlaps niece, was at his bedside the night that Dunlap died. "Hess and Koch's conduct caused immense emotional pain for the families and next of kin.". A body bag was found to be leaking bodily fluids along with a container of animal remains which was also leaking fluids. Connie Hansons sons body parts were also allegedly sold. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. However, there was more going on beneath the surface. 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. These people deserve to know why what was done to them was done to them. The Daily Sentinel Megan Hess The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. 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Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. What You Need To Know. POCATELLO, Idaho A Pocatello funeral home under investigation by the Idaho Board of Morticians has had its licenses revoked. But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. 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 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. None of the former employees or associates Reuters interviewed worked directly for the body broker business. Investigators discovered 31 dead bodies, some of which were in advanced stages of decomposition. Thats when E.W. 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. Email:
[email protected] At the time of publication, no charges had been filed against the coroner, though Colorado has suspended the business licenses for both funeral homes. 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. The Justice Department did not respond to Fox News' request for comment. A judge sentenced a Colorado funeral-home owner who carved up corpses and sold parts of them without families' permission to 20 years in prison on Tuesday, according to the Department of Justice. The news agency had also sent written questions to Hess and her attorney about Kochs alleged handling of gold teeth. Body brokers sometimes market their services using language that could mislead prospective donors into believing the broker handles organ donations. Learn more about Colorado true crime stories in the gallery below. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. Colorado Funeral Homes. This is a way we can eliminate or alleviate the black market on body parts, Crowder added. Torsos are a popular specimen these days, she wrote. After reading the states suspension order this week, two women told The Denver Post that the circumstances surrounding E.W. sound eerily familiar. It was kinda creepy., It is totally unregulated, said Burg. 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. Dunlap left one specific instruction: The glass eye that hed worn since a childhood accident should be removed and sent to his best friend. and Cavanagh, Reh had an immensely difficult time reaching the Kents, the phone ringing unanswered for weeks. Hess is tentatively set to be sentenced in January. The scope of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home and Donor Services remains unclear at this time while investigators are trying to get a handle on that issue. Mabry said Koch told him the glass eye couldnt be removed after Dunlaps head was severed, embalmed and shipped to researchers. 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. Pam Boyd/
[email protected]. 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. Hess, however, charged families to donate their bodies $195, plus $300 more if relatives want cremated remains returned. But the business arrangement is highly unusual. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. The home, located at 8215 W. Summerdale Ave., was sold for just shy of $400,000 in May 2021. Reuters identified 34 body brokers that have been active across the United States during the past five years. 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. A woman in Colorado has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegally selling body parts. 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. A former employee has alleged misconduct regarding the disposal of the deceased at Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas. Megan Hess, the owner of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, and her parents are now under investigation by the FBI. It is illegal in the United States to sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant; they must be donated. Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas is accused of a range of misdeeds, from not embalming or refrigerating bodies in a . 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. 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. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. 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. Legal Statement. E.W. 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.