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Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. 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. At Sunset Mesa, Hess charged $1,995 for a simple burial and $695 for a basic cremation, according to price lists reviewed by Reuters. No one would pick up the phone. Koch's central role was chopping up the bodies, court records show. Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images. The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. Reached by phone at Sunset Mesa, Koch said she did not wish to talk with a Reuters reporter. 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. 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 . 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. 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. Just about any adult can run for coroner in Colorado. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. She did. 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. Chantal Reh, an Avon resident, went through a similar experience when she suffered a stillborn birth in August 2018. A body bag was found to be leaking bodily fluids along with a container of animal remains which was also leaking fluids. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. As she mourned the loss of her son, Cavanagh was referred to the Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum to do the cremation. In Colorado, the states organ donation program, Donor Alliance, said Hesss marketing language could be confusing to people.. Why Donor Services was unable to trace Dunlaps head remains unclear. 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. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com Funeral homes are required to register with the state, but spokesman Rasizer said the regulatory affairs department is not authorized to inspect mortuaries. 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. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July. 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. 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. Non-compete agreements, Customer Experience, Community Engagement. A funeral home in Crapaud, Prince Edward Island is under RCMP investigation for allegations of financial irregularities. A change of plea hearing for Koch is scheduled for July 12. 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. 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. Nursing Home Under Investigation After Woman Declared Dead Found Breathing at Funeral Home The incident happened at the Water's Edge Rehab and Nursing Center in Port Jefferson, the. 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. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. According to Reuters Sunset Mesa Funeral Home had seen their call volume increase from 59 in 2015 to 128 in 2017. 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 New York Times, a far-left outlet, admitted in a report that Trump's rollback of a rule from President Barack Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. or redistributed. After an extensive investigation into this and dozens of similar cases, federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged the owners of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, on suspicion of illegally brokering the body parts of deceased individuals they were hired to cremate. 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. The. The suspension order details a 2019 instance in which an unnamed individual arranged with Kents funeral home for the cremation of their stillborn child. Emmanuel Macron shared his vision of a renewed partnership with Africa in which it stands equal with France, as he concluded a tour where he has sought to dispel France's image as an arrogant former colonial power whilst bidding for future influence. SENTINEL FILE PHOTO Sisters Layna and Janet Hutt hold photos of their father, Raymond Hutt, who died in 2016 at the age of 96. You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). Hiring funeral directors: Do you look for IQ or EQ? 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. Heads went for $500 and $250 for a knee prices at significantly discounted rates compared to other body brokers. The news agency had also sent written questions to Hess and her attorney about Kochs alleged handling of gold teeth. Both have become experts on the secret industry of selling body parts on a world wide market. Instead, the media was interested in the dark history behind the town's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. 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. 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. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. One ex-employee, Kari Escher, said she was especially troubled by the practices of Hesss mother, Shirley Koch, who works at the facility. Ive been violated, said Alena Holloman. 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. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, 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. "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. 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. In 2020, authorities charged the two with mail fraud and illegal transportation of hazardous materials. First published on Wed 6 Jul 2022 10.36 EDT. 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. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. She signed a contract with a Montrose funeral home to have his body cremated. 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. Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors of Montrose handled the funeral . 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. 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. And it is not against the law to operate a so-called body broker firm from the same facility that houses a funeral home and crematory. I said I dont want to hear anymore.. 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. It is also the only state that doesnt license funeral directors. All rights reserved. The FBI hired a lab to test the cremains given to the families, and they have determined the boxes of ash contain cement, sand and other non-human particles. 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. 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. 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. None of the former employees or associates Reuters interviewed worked directly for the body broker business. 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. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. 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. 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. Ive had nightmares about it, said Fredericka Freddie Hancock. MONTROSE, Colo. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. Authorities also uncovered multiple refrigerated bodies which were wrapped in sheets or blankets but did not have any tags or paperwork identifying them. Colorado regulators shut Sunset Mesa down in February 2018, KMGH-TV reported. This content was originally published here. The other nine were structured as nonprofits, including Donor Services the only broker Reuters could find that still doubles as a funeral home. Torsos are a popular specimen these days, she wrote. (If they've been left standing. 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. A former Colorado funeral home operator has pleaded guilty to stealing and then selling hundreds of human bodies or body parts to people who were buying the remains for scientific, medical or . Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. 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. 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. On dozens of occasions, Hess and Koch transferred bodies or body parts to third parties for research without families knowledge, according to the U.S. Justice Department. . Feb 4, 2023, 5:26 PM SGT. Its not something that can be fixed., Hancock was notified by the FBI that her husbands body parts had been sold without her consent. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. 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. The next year,. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. When Schum hesitated, Hess said she would waive the cremation fee if Schum agreed to donate her friend's bladder to science. Such a partnership may raise ethical concerns because it creates a financial incentive for the funeral home. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. And much like E.W. Chantal Reh, an Avon resident, went through a similar experience when she suffered a stillborn birth in August 2018. Hancock is one of many family members who has learned the cremains she was given by the owners of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose contained items and materials that were not her husband. 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. 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. 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. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. 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. An indictment filed last week by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver alleges 43-year-old Megan Hess, of Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services, harvested body parts from hundreds of dead people without any authorization from their families. 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. He had been dismembered. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. 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. The funeral home's owners, Megan Hess, 43, and her mother . They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. Escher said Koch, who embalmed and dismembered bodies, pulled teeth from some of the corpses to extract the gold in crowns or fillings. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. That's part of my nightmare. . The attorney, Carol Viner, asked Reuters to refrain from contacting Hess employees for any reason.. No federal law prohibits the buying and selling of human body parts to be used in research and education. Staci Kent arrived to one of those death scenes without a body bag, which spurred an argument with authorities, the indictment notes. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. Hoping to get answers, Denver7 visited Hess home in Montrose. 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. Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. But two said Hess sometimes bragged about how lucrative it was to sell bodies and body parts. It is a business and it is a profit business, added Burg. Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com. The gruesome details of the case which authorities say included more than 500 victims drew international attention and shined a light on the . In the late aughts, the town of Montrose, Colorado, made national headlines. They are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. Her father, Alan Koch, ran the crematory, Hess said. 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. Chantal Reh. And as of. The Donor Services brochure was criticized as deceptive by two major U.S. organ donation groups after Reuters shared it with them. Fo My mother and my mothers body has been desecrated.. We did not provide our messaging to be repurposed in this brochure, and are following up, said spokeswoman Erin Dolin. Kent operates six funeral homes in the states high country, which also include Buena Vista, Fairplay, Idaho Springs, and Silverthorne. Most brokers who sell body parts offer to cremate part of the donors body for free. There are no ethics there when you do that. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. SCI 4Q Revenue and Year End Revenue lower than comparables, Funeral Director Daily, The business of Funeral Care. 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. When Reuters reported earlier this year about the unusual twin businesses of owner Megan Hess, federal agents raided the facility and state regulators ordered the funeral home to be shut down. "We don't even have a name for a crime this heinous. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. Colorado regulators can now inspect funeral homes and crematories without owners' permission The state has long had some of the laxest laws in the nation surrounding funeral homes Joe. 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. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. You know, they can't put his head back on his body, they can't put his arms and legs back on his body. 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. Hess runs Sunset Mesa, a funeral home, and Donor Services, a body broker operation from the same building in Montrose. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. It comes on the heels of a law passed in 2020 that. Donor Services has circulated a brochure that reads: Be a hero. According to High Country News, Hess was running the funeral home in conjunction with a non-profit called Donor Services Inc., through which she sold "donated" body parts to companies a practice referred to as body brokering. He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. Her funeral home site listed her credentials, including a PhD in mortuary science. Hess made donating a body online easy. MILLERSVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) A Lancaster County funeral home and its director are facing formal disciplinary action and are under investigation by the state. Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. 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. PUBLISHED 8:21 PM CT Apr. 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. 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 state's Department of Regulatory Agencies. 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. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. 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. At Donor Services, her body parts business, Hess can generate a greater return on the dead, a different price list reviewed by Reuters showed. 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. I thought it was something that needs to be corrected," said state Senator Larry Crowder, one of the bills sponsors. Shannon and Staci Kent, 45, of Leadville were charged on Friday with attempted tampering with a deceased human body. Its a profit business. She took orders for body parts via Hotmail, email records show. 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. 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.. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. Separate from the FBI inquiry, Reuters has learned that Colorado state funeral regulators are investigating Hess's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. Donating bodies, selling the parts: Frequently asked questions. Twenty-five of the brokers were for-profit corporations. There are no ethics there when you do that.. 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.

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