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. In Colorado, the states organ donation program, Donor Alliance, said Hesss marketing language could be confusing to people.. No federal law prohibits the buying and selling of human body parts to be used in research and education. "Our sweet mother, they dismembered her," Erin Smith said, selling her shoulders, knees and feet for profit. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. 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. 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. 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. Heads went for $500 and $250 for a knee prices at significantly discounted rates compared to other body brokers. Theyre united by the pain of believing they purchased cremation services for their loved ones, knowing they never agreed to let Hess dismember the bodies. The transfers were done through Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation and Donor Services, authorities said. Neither addressed the issue about the teeth. Body brokers like Donor Services are also known as non-transplant tissue banks. Colorado does not regulate body brokers. 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. Lake County coroner Shannon Kent owns both the Bailey-Kent Funeral Home in Leadville about 100 miles southeast of Denver and the Kent Funeral Home Gypsum about 133 miles west of the Mile High City, The Denver Post reported Friday. 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. 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. Did you ever consent to have this family mutilate your husbands body? asked Denver7. You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). A funeral home in Crapaud, Prince Edward Island is under RCMP investigation for allegations of financial irregularities. When Schum hesitated, Hess said she would waive the cremation fee if Schum agreed to donate her friend's bladder to science. Hess runs Sunset Mesa, a funeral home, and Donor Services, a body broker operation from the same building in Montrose. (Google). 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. The remains Hess returned to families were also not those of their loved ones. PUBLISHED 8:21 PM CT Apr. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. This comes after a dozen . The startling discovery led to a further investigation of oversight in the funeral industry. . 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. Earlier this month, authorities from both Lake and Eagle counties encountered a strong odor of decomposition when they searched the Leadville funeral home, reads. 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. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. Donor Services has circulated a brochure that reads: Be a hero. Prior to the raid, the cost of purchasing an arm and shoulder was $600. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. The FBI started looking into Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services a few months after it was discovered that both businesses were being operated out of the same building and by the same owner, according to thereport. 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. Her revised online biography cited her high school degree and a love of veterinary medicine.. But two said Hess sometimes bragged about how lucrative it was to sell bodies and body parts. 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. Former workers told Reuters that Hess and Koch conducted unauthorized dismemberments of bodies, and a few weeks after a 2018 story was published, the FBI raided the business. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. Kent also still faces second-degree official misconduct charges stemming from a September 2019 grand jury indictment in the Fifth Judicial District. Shannon and Staci Kent, 45, of Leadville were charged on Friday with attempted tampering with a deceased human body. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July. 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. The next year,. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. Another alleged victim said her mothers body was desecrated. Instead, the media was interested in the dark history behind the town's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. Unfortunately, the attention wasn't focused on the town's natural beauty or tourism opportunities. 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. But selling body parts such as heads, arms and spines which is what Hess did for use in research or education is not regulated by federal law. 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. On Oct. 13, the state shut down both the Gypsum operation and . 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. Specifics of the scope of theFBI investigation are unclear. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. At Sunset Mesa, Hess charged $1,995 for a simple burial and $695 for a basic cremation, according to price lists reviewed by Reuters. None of the former employees or associates Reuters interviewed worked directly for the body broker business. She has been told parts of her husbands body were sold on the world-wide market. Hess continues running a dual operation. "No, I did not," Hancock responded. At the time of publication, no charges had been filed against the coroner, though Colorado has suspended the business licenses for both funeral homes. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. There are no ethics there when you do that. Fo Investigators discovered 31 dead bodies, some of which were in advanced stages of decomposition. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. The Daily Sentinel Megan Hess are acquisitions larger in general? 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. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. 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. Legal Statement. Ive been violated, said Alena Holloman. Bankman-Fried can have flip phone, limited internet while on bail, US proposes, Biden assembles team of allies to boost re-election campaign, Reporting by John Shiffman; Editing by Paul Simao and Richard Chang, Michigan judge dismisses school staff as defendants in lawsuits over mass shooting, American Airlines, flight attendants union seek mediation in contract negotiations, Macron ends Africa tour with wish for fair reset of ties, Turkey's Erdogan dismisses opposition split and says his ruling alliance will stay on same path, Turkey's pro-Kurdish party calls for opposition unity after split, In Turkey's quake-devasted city of Antakya, an antiques seller is determined to stay put, Eni agrees deal with UAE's ADNOC as Italy rebuilds relationship, Exclusive news, data and analytics for financial market professionals. Sam Tabachnik is a roving reporter for The Denver Post, focusing on stories outside metro Denver. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. And much like E.W. Its tentacles go throughout not only the country but the world.. 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. 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 First published on Wed 6 Jul 2022 10.36 EDT. A body bag was found to be leaking bodily fluids along with a container of animal remains which was also leaking fluids. They are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. Why Donor Services was unable to trace Dunlaps head remains unclear. You know, they can't put his head back on his body, they can't put his arms and legs back on his body. The lawsuit estimates the three were making $40,000 a month from the sale of body parts. Instead of paying the standard $695 cremation fee to Colorado Cremation, Hesss former cremation marketing business, Dunlap paid Hess $495 to take his body. Thank you, she said before ending the call.