Lynette "Diamond" Hardaway's Cause of Death Revealed 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. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. Colorado coroner arrested, accused of tampering with a human body 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. Colorado funeral home known for history of misconduct | AP News It was kinda creepy., It is totally unregulated, said Burg. 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. They desecrated his little body, she said. The New York Times, a far-left outlet, admitted in a report that Trump's rollback of a rule from President Barack Separate from the FBI inquiry, Reuters has learned that Colorado state funeral regulators are investigating Hess's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. Investigators discovered 31 dead bodies, some of which were in advanced stages of decomposition. FBI Raids Montrose Funeral Home Accused Of Donating - CBS News Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Legal Statement. 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. 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. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. Did you ever consent to have this family mutilate your husbands body? asked Denver7. 'Tragic' cases prompt bill making it easier to inspect Colorado funeral 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. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. It is also the only state that doesnt license funeral directors. 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. Seeing how this chapter is opening up again is incredible, its unbelievable. He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. She said she and her mother, Koch, handled about 10 cadavers a month in the back room. (Google). I know these are not his ashes because his body parts went all over the country, Hanson said. 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 . When asked if it contained her husbands cremains, she said, I dont know.. TX Funeral Service Commission Investigating Golden Gate - Spectrum News The NBC10 Investigators found bodies inside an unlicensed funeral home in Chester, Pennsylvania. 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. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. The Justice Department did not respond to Fox News' request for comment. E.W. 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. Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. Women who sold body parts out of their Colorado funeral home are Hess and Koch also shipped bodies and body parts that tested positive for, or belonged to people who died from, infectious diseases including Hepatitis B and C, and HIV, despite certifying to buyers that the remains were disease-free, authorities said. Thousands more patients could benefit from life saving and healing eye and tissue donations.. Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. But the business arrangement is highly unusual. N.Y. You could hear the machine going, she told Kovaleski. Reuters has reported in a report that you can read here that the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home of Montrose, Colorado, and its associated business, Donor Services, remains under investigation by the FBI. 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. Holloman now deals with the guilt of knowing details of what happened to her moms body. A body bag was found to be leaking bodily fluids along with a container of animal remains which was also leaking fluids. Email address: Colorado Funeral Home / Body Broker Continues Under Investigation, Acquisitions, buy-outs, creative ideas. He had been dismembered. . (McGovern said no industry regulated by the Division of Professions and Occupations has regulators assigned exclusively to it.) 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. Colorado Funeral Home / Body Broker Continues Under Investigation 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 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. Funeral homes owned by a Colorado coroner under investigation following Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. . 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.. Colorado Funeral Homes, funeral flowers & funeral planning Its a profit business. 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. Twenty-six victims described their horror at discovering what had happened to their loved ones. In court on Tuesday, Hess declined to speak to the judge. A change of plea hearing for Koch is scheduled for July 12. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. "No, I did not," Hancock responded. 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. This compassionate help is the essence of what we do. But two said Hess sometimes bragged about how lucrative it was to sell bodies and body parts. Golden Gate's owner denies all allegations. That's part of my nightmare. The body was identified as that of 42 . Thats when E.W. Chantal Reh. 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. And much like E.W. Fo There are no ethics there when you do that. On March 17, the unsealed indictment revealed that this donor services business would harvest the human remains and then sell them, illegally and without the families' knowledge. It is the only state in the country that does not license funeral home and. More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives, Got a confidential news tip? They are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. Investigation into the allegations are ongoing with the Texas Funeral Services . 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. It is a business and it is a profit business, added Burg. However, on Thursday, Colorado police arrested Shannon and Staci Kent after finding a decaying corpse in a funeral home they previously operated. Its for profit and people dont realize there is a huge demand for cadavers and body parts., That demand comes from all over the world including medical schools, law enforcement agencies, the military and a variety of other industries looking to legitimately purchase bodies and body parts for credible research. The name of the state is derived form the Spanish . 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. The Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center is under investigation by Jeffersonville Police Detective Division after 31 deceased individuals and the post-cremated remains of 16 individuals. 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. The Daily Sentinel Megan Hess Hess, however, charged families to donate their bodies $195, plus $300 more if relatives want cremated remains returned. Source: Bodies stacked up at Jeffersonville funeral home after - WDRB They cut him up in pieces and sent them all over the place.. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. Licenses revoked for Pocatello funeral home - KTVB Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images. Andrew Scheid has been the director at . Hess runs Sunset Mesa, a funeral home, and Donor Services, a body broker operation from the same building in Montrose. The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Why Donor Services was unable to trace Dunlaps head remains unclear. 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. After receiving the cremains, E.W. Bodies Found in Unlicensed Funeral Home: Police Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. Owner of funeral home under investigation had history of violations She told Contact7 Investigates that she heard bodies being dismembered. 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. Amid FBI investigation, state closes case on Montrose funeral home The owners of that funeral home are facing charges of desecrating human remains more than four months after investigators found the body, which had been stored in a non-refrigerated room for years. 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. Hess' mother, Shirley Koch, has also been indicted. 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. All rights reserved. When Schum hesitated, Hess said she would waive the cremation fee if Schum agreed to donate her friend's bladder to science. Authorities also uncovered multiple refrigerated bodies which were wrapped in sheets or blankets but did not have any tags or paperwork identifying them. 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. 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. They were arrested in 2020 and charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials. Like many, Hanson found out about her son Frederick during a phone call from an FBI agent. Some former staff members of Sunset Mesa said they never heard Hess disclose to donors that the bodies would be sold for profit. Thank you, she said before ending the call. Thats when E.W. At the time of publication, no charges had been filed against the coroner, though Colorado has suspended the business licenses for both funeral homes. ThinkStock via Getty Images. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. 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. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. 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. Hancock is one of more than five dozen family members currently suing the family that operated the now shut-down Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. 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. Such a partnership may raise ethical concerns because it creates a financial incentive for the funeral home. The eye was never returned, said Eberspacher and Dunlaps friend, Ron Mabry. Seeing how this chapter is opening up again is incredible, its unbelievable. Donating bodies, selling the parts: Frequently asked questions. Megan Hess, the former operator of a Montrose funeral home convicted of selling body parts without family consent, was . No one returned her voicemails. Lawsuits pile up against former funeral director - Tennessee Lookout Be an organ donor, a slogan often used by organ transplant advocates. 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 continues running a dual operation. 06, 2021. 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. Chantal Reh, an Avon resident, went through a similar experience when she suffered a stillborn birth in August 2018. The state's Department of Regulatory Agencies. Feb 4, 2023, 5:26 PM SGT. Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. 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. 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. 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. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. 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. It only investigates a funeral home if a complaint is filed, he said. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs.

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