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 at least three occasions, Staci Kent allegedly responded to calls from law enforcement requesting a coroner at a death scene, according to the indictment. . 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. The Bailey-Kent Funeral Home was the only option given to her for cremation under a certain weight, she said. Prosecutors said she lied to more than 200 families, who received cremated ashes from bins mixed with the remains of different cadavers. 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. Mabry said Koch told him the glass eye couldnt be removed after Dunlaps head was severed, embalmed and shipped to researchers. "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. It only investigates a funeral home if a complaint is filed, he said. She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado. 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. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, The transfers were done through Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation and Donor Services, authorities said. "Hess and Koch's conduct caused immense emotional pain for the families and next of kin.". And as of. This comes after a dozen . It described a body broker as a company that acquires dead bodies, dissects them and sells the parts for profit to medical researchers, training organizations and other buyers.. The Daily Sentinel Megan Hess are acquisitions larger in general? Did you ever consent to have this family mutilate your husbands body? asked Denver7. 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. Contact7 Chief Investigative Reporter Tony Kovaleski traveled to Montrose and talked to more than a half dozen family members now victims about what they describe as a scheme to profit from their pain. 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. They were arrested in 2020 and charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials. 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. Donor Services has circulated a brochure that reads: Be a hero. Prior to the raid, the cost of purchasing an arm and shoulder was $600. The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. (If they've been left standing. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. 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The body was identified as that of 42 . and Cavanagh, Reh had an immensely difficult time reaching the Kents, the phone ringing unanswered for weeks. 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. 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. Reuters Investigates offers several ways to securely contact our reporters. 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. found out the cremains contained ashes from an infant, but also long bone fragments of an older/larger adult individual and metal, according to the suspension order. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com Few state laws provide any oversight. 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. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. Colorado Funeral Homes. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. 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. She did. 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. Meme Eberspacher, Dunlaps niece, was at his bedside the night that Dunlap died. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. In court on Tuesday, Hess declined to speak to the judge. 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. 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. As she mourned the loss of her son, Cavanagh was referred to the Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum to do the cremation. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. (REUTERS). 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. 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. Colorado regulators have shut down the funeral home. It is illegal to buy or sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant. 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. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. . Chantal Reh. 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. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. Suppliers of transplant tissue must obtain federal recognition and operate as charities. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. Earlier this month, authorities from both Lake and Eagle counties encountered a strong odor of decomposition when they searched the Leadville funeral home, reads. 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. 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. Hess' mother, Shirley Koch, has also been indicted. The price list is from an Arizona company shut down after an FBI raid five years ago. 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. . Authorities also uncovered multiple refrigerated bodies which were wrapped in sheets or blankets but did not have any tags or paperwork identifying them. SCI 4Q Revenue and Year End Revenue lower than comparables, Funeral Director Daily, The business of Funeral Care. 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. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. There is even more money to be made in dissecting those bodies and selling the parts. . . You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). The federal inquiry began several months ago, shortly after Reuters interviewed a half-dozen workers who formerly worked for Hess. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems. 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. 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. The investigation of Kents funeral homes began in February after the sheriffs office received a complaint by a client regarding the handling of human remains.
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