colorado funeral home under investigation

On Monday, the family of Ramon Lara Castillo a 63-year-old Nashville house painter who succumbed to liver cancer in October 2020 filed a federal lawsuit against former funeral director Reid Van Ness and the operators of a funeral home in Lewisburg, Tenn. Roommates and friends of Castillo paid Van Ness $1,800 to ship the body home to his . 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. As funeral directors, while we dont do everything perfect, we should have the best interest of our client families at heart. Her father, Alan Koch, ran the crematory, Hess said. 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. In Colorado and most other states, it also is legal for funeral homes to sell items recovered from dead bodies, such as gold dental work. Few state laws provide any oversight. Both Hess and Koch originally had pleaded not guilty to the charges. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Hess made donating a body online easy. To betray that help, in a way that the businesses here are alleged to have done, brings nothing but a lack of credibility to all funeral service professionals. The true-crime podcast "Criminal," which covered the story in its 131st episode, reports that when Grand Junction resident Debbie Schum visited Sunset Mesa after the death of her friend in 2017, the funeral home's director, Megan Hess, told Schum that she could not provide cremation services unless Schum paid her $1,000 upfront. Extra charges are assessed if a body is embalmed or a funeral director is involved. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. Hess is tentatively set to be sentenced in January. 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. 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. 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. The NBC10 Investigators found bodies inside an unlicensed funeral home in Chester, Pennsylvania. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Market data provided by Factset. The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. The Denver attorney is referring to the limited and nonexistent regulation nationwide and worldwide regarding the procurement and selling of bodies and body parts. Ive had nightmares about it, said Fredericka Freddie Hancock. 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. SENTINEL FILE PHOTO Sisters Layna and Janet Hutt hold photos of their father, Raymond Hutt, who died in 2016 at the age of 96. Colorado regulators shut down the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in 2018. There, authorities also found dried bodily fluid on surgical equipment, the metal preparation table, and the floor. 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. Prosecutors said she lied to more than 200 families, who received cremated ashes from bins mixed with the remains of different cadavers. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison By The Associated Press January 4, 2023, 12:16 AM Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. Last August, police received a complaint that funds provided to. Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. She did. 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. 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 lawsuit estimates the three were making $40,000 a month from the sale of body parts. He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. After receiving the cremains, E.W. 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. There is even more money to be made in dissecting those bodies and selling the parts. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Meme Eberspacher, Dunlaps niece, was at his bedside the night that Dunlap died. (William Woody, Special to the Colorado Sun), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, (720) 263-2338 Call, text, Signal or WhatsApp, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Ducks, Used body bags, medical gloves and other surgical equipment with dried bodily fluid on them piled on the floor, Bodily fluids leaking out of a body bag containing an individual who had not been refrigerated, A container of animal remains leaking fluids, Several bodies in refrigeration wrapped in sheets or blankets without identifying tags or paperwork, An unmarked casket containing a stillborn infant that was abandoned, the suspension order states, Paperwork scattered several feet deep on the floor. Twenty-six victims described their horror at discovering what had happened to their loved ones. "This is the most emotionally draining. I saw a lot inside as far as, you know, body parts and things like that. She continued, But I was oblivious to what was going on. 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 . It is also the only state that doesnt license funeral directors. 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. . The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. We were greeted at the door by her father, who told us to leave the property. 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. Responding to the investigations and details reported out of Montrose, Colorado lawmakers could become the first in the country to pass a law making it illegal for funeral home or crematory owners to operate as a body broker. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, There are no ethics there when you do that. Reached by phone at Sunset Mesa, Koch said she did not wish to talk with a Reuters reporter. 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. At Donor Services, her body parts business, Hess can generate a greater return on the dead, a different price list reviewed by Reuters showed. It is a business and it is a profit business, added Burg. But it provided an important public service, she said. Hess continues running a dual operation. 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 . The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems. 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 stillborn's cremains mixed. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. This comes after a dozen . 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. According to theDenver Post, prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Hess this year regarding a 2020 indictment against her and her mother. I said I dont want to hear anymore.. The Donor Services brochure was criticized as deceptive by two major U.S. organ donation groups after Reuters shared it with them. No one returned her voicemails. It can't be fixed, said Hancock. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. In February 2018, Lina Cavanagh lost her baby at an advanced stage of pregnancy a loss that took its toll on her, both physically and emotionally. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. 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. Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. 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. 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. Andrew Scheid has been the director at . When Schum hesitated, Hess said she would waive the cremation fee if Schum agreed to donate her friend's bladder to science. Escher said Koch, who embalmed and dismembered bodies, pulled teeth from some of the corpses to extract the gold in crowns or fillings. Instead, the media was interested in the dark history behind the town's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. 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. 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. Hess, 45, and her mother, Shirley Koch, operated the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. MILLERSVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) A Lancaster County funeral home and its director are facing formal disciplinary action and are under investigation by the state. The Colorado Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state our community can better understand itself. The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. 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. (REUTERS). 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. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. The startling discovery led to a further investigation of oversight in the funeral industry. Neither addressed the issue about the teeth. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. In an interview in 2016, she described Donor Services as a small, family business. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. Thank you, she said before ending the call. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems, said Steve Palmer, a funeral director in Cottonwood, Arizona, and former member of the policy board at the National Funeral Directors Association. 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. Enter your email address to join 3,177 readers who subscribe to all Funeral Director articles. Downard Funeral Home Under Investigation, ISU Involved There are many events that have unfolded over the past couple weeks involving Downard Funeral Home, some including Idaho State University (ISU). I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. They desecrated his little body, she said. Separate from the FBI inquiry, Reuters has learned that Colorado state funeral regulators are investigating Hess's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. Reuters could find no other operation active in the United States that houses a funeral home, crematory and body broker in the same facility and under the same ownership. 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. Kent operates six funeral homes in the states high country, which also include Buena Vista, Fairplay, Idaho Springs, and Silverthorne. 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. 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. Updated: 8:07 PM MDT September 14, 2021. . Two months later, after hearing nothing from Hess, Schum went to Sunset Mesa to retrieve her friend's ashes. Another alleged victim said her mothers body was desecrated. 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. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. Its tentacles go throughout not only the country but the world.. 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. 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. . Megan Hess, the owner of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, and her parents are now under investigation by the FBI. Its for the good of the world, and I like to help people, Hess said. 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. According to Reuters Sunset Mesa Funeral Home had seen their call volume increase from 59 in 2015 to 128 in 2017. Kent also still faces second-degree official misconduct charges stemming from a September 2019 grand jury indictment in the Fifth Judicial District. 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 . The focus and extent of the federal probe into the Hess operation is unclear, and the FBI also declined to comment. The Daily Sentinel reports that Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction. One of Hesss donors was Rex Dunlap, a frugal Coloradan battling brain cancer. Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com. The state's Department of Regulatory Agencies. 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. Be an organ donor, a slogan often used by organ transplant advocates. But days went by and she couldnt reach anyone. Both have become experts on the secret industry of selling body parts on a world wide market. In Colorado, the states organ donation program, Donor Alliance, said Hesss marketing language could be confusing to people.. The surgical-training companies and other firms which bought the arms, legs, heads and torsos from Hess did not know they had been fraudulently obtained, prosecutors said. 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. Reuters Investigates offers several ways to securely contact our reporters. She has been told parts of her husbands body were sold on the world-wide market. She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado. 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. Megan Hess, 46, operated the Sunset Mesa funeral home in Montrose, Colorado, alongside a body-parts entity called Donor Services, where she undertook the grisly scheme, starting in 2010. GYPSUM The operating license for Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum has been summarily suspended by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies following an investigation that revealed disturbing conditions at an associated funeral home in Leadville. 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. She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. She said she and her mother, Koch, handled about 10 cadavers a month in the back room. However, on Thursday, Colorado police arrested Shannon and Staci Kent after finding a decaying corpse in a funeral home they previously operated. Donating bodies, selling the parts: Frequently asked questions. 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. 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. 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. 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. (Google). Kent is already facing charges of perjury and official misconduct for sending wife Staci Kent, who is not authorized to act as a deputy coroner, to death scenes on at least three occasions, according to a September 2019 grand jury indictment. 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. According to the Johnstown, N.Y. Police Department, Brian M. Barnett, 35, who owns the since-shuttered Ehle . . Jacque Hampson spent a year working as Hesss personal assistant. You could hear the machine going, she told Kovaleski. There are no ethics there when you do that. Chantal Reh, an Avon resident, went through a similar experience when she suffered a stillborn birth in August 2018. A few days later, she was able to pick up the cremains, but like E.W., Cavanagh received no paperwork. The probe into the coroners funeral homes started back in February, after a client complained to the Lake County Sheriffs Office about the handling of human remains. Reuters identified 34 body brokers that have been active across the United States during the past five years. The eye was never returned, said Eberspacher and Dunlaps friend, Ron Mabry. The home, located at 8215 W. Summerdale Ave., was sold for just shy of $400,000 in May 2021. . You are looking at how to make money.. 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. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. A woman in Colorado has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegally selling body parts. Donor Services has circulated a brochure that reads: Be a hero. With a population of about 20,000, Montrose is a community surrounded by the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Holloman now deals with the guilt of knowing details of what happened to her moms body. . Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. 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. Body brokering is not illegal in Colorado; however, a 2020 Denver7 report noted that Hess, along with her mother, were donating bodies without the consent of the deceased's family. Authorities are now investigating. 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. 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. A human head and spine sold for $850, while a full pelvis all the way to the toes priced out at $2,850. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. 06, 2021. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. Hansons box included wires and what appear to be old batteries. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. 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 Bailey-Kent Funeral Home was the only option given to her for cremation under a certain weight, she said. Colorado Ordway Funeral Homes Eaton Family Funeral Home Eaton Family Funeral Home in Ordway 202 E 3rd St Ordway, CO 81063 (719) 267-4221 Click to show location on map Zoom About Eaton Family Funeral Home We understand that losing a loved one can be a very stressful time. 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. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July. by Mr. Leadville | Oct 26, 2020 | Leadville News. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. There are no ethics there when you do that.. 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. university of st thomas psyd,

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