I'll never be OK.". 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. ", Funeral home remains under federal investigation. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. 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. "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. 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. Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Members of the FBI, along with Montrose law enforcement investigate the Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building Tuesday morning, February 6, 2018. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July. The focus and extent of the federal probe into the Hess operation is unclear, and the FBI also declined to comment. 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. They were affiliated with her funeral business. No one would pick up the phone. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. Authorities are now investigating. Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. Colorado regulators have shut down the funeral home. 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. By: Tony Kovaleski Posted at 6:00 PM, Oct 31, 2019 She said, No, no, well take care of that first thing in the morning, recalled Eberspacher. (REUTERS). 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. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. But no federal law governs the sale of cadavers or body parts for use in research or education. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Last August, police received a complaint that funds provided to. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. But two said Hess sometimes bragged about how lucrative it was to sell bodies and body parts. There are people and businesses who spend millions and millions of dollars," Teselle added, "trafficking in these body parts as if they were nothing more than cans of soup or loaves of bread., I was pretty shocked, said Jacque Hampson, a former employee of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. As you likely know by now, Diamond of the famous 'Diamond and Silk' sister duo, has passed away at the young age of only 51. There are no ethics there when you do that. 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. Megan Hess, a former Colorado funeral home director, chopped up over 500 . It was kinda creepy., It is totally unregulated, said Burg. Feb 4, 2023, 5:26 PM SGT. Two months later, after hearing nothing from Hess, Schum went to Sunset Mesa to retrieve her friend's ashes. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our. In 2009, Hess also created a nonprofit called Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation, d/b/a Donor Services, a body broker service operated out of the same location as SMFD. 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. and Cavanagh, Reh had an immensely difficult time reaching the Kents, the phone ringing unanswered for weeks. As a matter of fact, the FBI has set up a hot line and e-mail address for potential victims of the businesses to contact with information. Kent also still faces second-degree official misconduct charges stemming from a September 2019 grand jury indictment in the Fifth Judicial District. 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. Other charges against Hess will . In the late aughts, the town of Montrose, Colorado, made national headlines. 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. Below, find out where 25 of the most infamous crimes in history took place and what the locations are used for today. Email address: Colorado Funeral Home / Body Broker Continues Under Investigation, Acquisitions, buy-outs, creative ideas. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. The states Department of Regulatory Agencies said it has nine open complaints about Sunset Mesa higher than average for funeral homes in the state, said spokesman Lee Rasizer. 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. 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. The Daily Sentinel Megan Hess No such degree exists in the United States for morticians, veteran funeral directors say. 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. NBC10 . 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. 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 . No one would pick up the phone. Reuters could not independently verify this figure. We did not provide our messaging to be repurposed in this brochure, and are following up, said spokeswoman Erin Dolin. They are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. 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. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because when it became the 38th state, the United States turned 100 on August 1, 1876. A few days later, she was able to pick up the cremains, but like E.W., Cavanagh received no paperwork. Some of those family members are now questioning if the services were held free of charge while Donor Services sent some of the remains (body parts) to clients for payments without the knowledge and consent of family members. Hess, along with her mother and father, are all named in a lawsuit, which accuses them of using a backroom to dismember cadavers with a power saw and stack body parts in coolers. Shannon and Staci Kent, 45, of Leadville were charged on Friday with attempted tampering with a deceased human body. Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. 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. (Google). 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. Reuters identified 34 body brokers that have been active across the United States during the past five years. 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 news agency had also sent written questions to Hess and her attorney about Kochs alleged handling of gold teeth. Forty-fifth President and leading 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump has been exonerated of false claims from the radical left and the Biden administration that Trump was responsible for the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, due to a rollback. The body was identified by fingerprints as Victor Akubuo, 42, from Southern . 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 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. (If they've been left standing. 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. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. 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..