"No, I did not," Hancock responded. Its sickening, said Hanson. He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. Its a profit business. 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. The other nine were structured as nonprofits, including Donor Services the only broker Reuters could find that still doubles as a funeral home. 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. 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. Koch said she had sold a different batch a year prior, and they took the whole family to Disneyland in California on the gold that they cashed in, Escher said. In Colorado, there are few regulations to catch shoddy behavior, such as illegitimate body trading, by mortuaries. 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 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. After receiving the cremains, E.W. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. . They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. Funeral Director Daily take: I have a hard time fathoming what may have went on at this funeral home. 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. 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. 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. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. 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. There are no ethics there when you do that.. Take a look at some of Colorado's most notorious crimes. All rights reserved. But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. Its not something that can be fixed., Hancock was notified by the FBI that her husbands body parts had been sold without her consent. No federal law prohibits the buying and selling of human body parts to be used in research and education. A former employee has alleged misconduct regarding the disposal of the deceased at Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas. Colorado regulators have shut down the funeral home. Another alleged victim said her mothers body was desecrated. Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. The home, located at 8215 W. Summerdale Ave., was sold for just shy of $400,000 in May 2021. Could, Lake County coroner turns in resignation letter, State suspends operations of Leadville, Gypsum funeral homes, 3 BULLETS TO THE BACK: The striking silence around a police, Last Season Hunters Harvested the Most Bucks in 21 Years | Outdoor Life, Republicans are barring medical boards from punishing doctors who prescribe ivermectin: report | Salon.com, Mead High School student gets musical Make-A-Wish surprise, Bruce Cassidy Defends Tuukka Rask After Tough Showing Vs. Fells called running such a multifaceted operation a new frontier., Through the attorney, Hess declined to comment for this story and didnt address questions about the FBI probe, her business practices, and the allegations by former employees. 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. Holloman now deals with the guilt of knowing details of what happened to her moms body. 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. Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. As a result, Peck and his funeral home were required to pay a $2,500 fine and $5,000 in investigative costs and attorney fees. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. She has been told parts of her husbands body were sold on the world-wide market. Instead of paying the standard $695 cremation fee to . Fo The most expensive prices were for an upper torso that included a head and arms ($4,000) and the cost of an entire body was $5,000, according to the price list. Both Hess and Koch originally had pleaded not guilty to the charges. . Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. Colorado Funeral Homes. It is a business and it is a profit business, added Burg. State Bans Coroner Shannon Kent From Private Business After Remains, Waste Found At Home-Based Colorado Funeral Home December 3, 2020 / 7:33 AM / CBS Colorado 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. Hess made donating a body online easy. Twenty-six victims described their horror at discovering what had happened to their loved ones. I go to sleep with the visions of him being dismembered with a power saw, said Ruthie Pettyjohn, whose sons body parts were allegedly sold. 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. Such multipurpose operations raise ethical concerns, several funeral industry veterans said. At the time of publication, no charges had been filed against the coroner, though Colorado has suspended the business licenses for both funeral homes. 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. Authorities also uncovered multiple refrigerated bodies which were wrapped in sheets or blankets but did not have any tags or paperwork identifying them. Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. NBC10 . The federal inquiry began several months ago, shortly after Reuters interviewed a half-dozen workers who formerly worked for Hess. Im not interested. What You Need To Know. 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. No one would pick up the phone. The Donor Services brochure was criticized as deceptive by two major U.S. organ donation groups after Reuters shared it with them. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. She took orders for body parts via Hotmail, email records show. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. The lawsuit claims the three sold torsos for $1,000, a pelvis with upper legs for $1,200. That's part of my nightmare. 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. However, on Thursday, Colorado police arrested Shannon and Staci Kent after finding a decaying corpse in a funeral home they previously operated. (REUTERS). Specifics of the scope of theFBI investigation are unclear. 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. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. 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. 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 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. 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. And as of. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. The body was identified by fingerprints as Victor Akubuo, 42, from Southern . They desecrated his little body, she said. 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. She was sold, embalmed and shipped out within just a few hours of her death, said Holloman. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. Most brokers who sell body parts offer to cremate part of the donors body for free. 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. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. (McGovern said no industry regulated by the Division of Professions and Occupations has regulators assigned exclusively to it.) Such a partnership may raise ethical concerns because it creates a financial incentive for the funeral home. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 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. 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. They are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. 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. No one returned her voicemails. Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. Sam Tabachnik is a roving reporter for The Denver Post, focusing on stories outside metro Denver. Its for the good of the world, and I like to help people, Hess said. ", Tina Shanon, whose mother was dismembered against her will, told the court, "I've worn many masks to cover the pain. The eye was never returned, said Eberspacher and Dunlaps friend, Ron Mabry. 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. 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. 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. It only investigates a funeral home if a complaint is filed, he said.