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Colorado funeral home owner accused of selling body parts pleads guilty

2022-07-06T12:48:15.967Z


Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal mail fraud.


By

Associated Press

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving customers fake ashes has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in federal court.

The Daily Sentinel reports that Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday in Grand Junction.

Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, according to the same newspaper.

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Hess, 45, and his mother, Shirley Koch, operated the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose.

They were arrested in 2020 and charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials.

A grand jury indictment alleged that from 2010 to 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.

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Hess had created a nonprofit organization in 2009 called the Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation as a body broker service doing business as Donor Services, authorities said.

On dozens of occasions, Hess and Koch transferred bodies or body parts to third parties for investigation without the families' knowledge, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

The transfers were made through the Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation and Donation Services, according to authorities.

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Hess and Koch also shipped bodies and body parts that tested positive for infectious diseases, including hepatitis B and C and HIV, or that belonged to deceased individuals, despite certifying to buyers that the remains were free of diseases, according to the authorities.

Both Hess and Koch had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Hess's sentencing is initially scheduled for January.

Koch's change of plea hearing is scheduled for July 12.

Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-07-06

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