Two funeral home operators in Colorado were sentenced Wednesday for illegally selling bodies and body parts without the families consent, the US Attorneys Office said. Updated: 7:04 PM MST January 5, 2023. All Rights Reserved. By John Shiffman. Louis Garzone, 65, of Philadelphia, Gerald Garzone, 47, of North Former workers describe troubling practices at this mortuary. A former Colorado funeral home owner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Tuesday for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 corpses and selling body parts without permission . When the cheerleading coach broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, Kohel was determined to compete anyway. ", Some of the parts taken in Philadelphia came from people who had died of cancer, sepsis, HIV and hepatitis, the grand jury said. Megan Hess who operated the Sunset Mesa funeral home in Montroseand a human body parts business called Donor Services from the same building admitted in federal court Tuesday to defrauding at least a dozen families who had paid to have their late loved ones cremated. We are available 24 hours a day, everyday of the year for emergency death care. plea there last month. One client received a concrete mix instead of the remains of their loved one. donors had died of heart attacks or blunt-force trauma but were "My husband was a World War II veteran of three years," said Few state laws provide any regulation, and almost anyone, regardless of expertise, can dissect and sell human body parts. "He was victimized by the funeral directors. During the hearing, the judge asked Hess to describe in her own words the crimes she committed. Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J., ran the scheme with help from a McCafferty Funeral Home opened up in December of 1970 and has had the honor to handle many high profile funerals including longtime Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas. The woman, Megan Hess, 45, the principal figure in the scheme, was assisted by her mother, Shirley Koch, who is in her late 60s, prosecutors said. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The cause was bone and brain cancer, said his attorney, Mario Gallucci. "He's obviously not in great spirits, but he's doing OK given the circumstances.". The most expensive prices were for an upper torso that included a head and arms ($4,000) and the cost of an entire body was $5,000, according to the price list. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Home would charge $1,000 or more for cremation services, but often failed to carry out the work, authorities said. Thanks for contacting us. Much of the work took place at the Louis Garzone Funeral Home, at Somerset and Jasper Streets in Kensington, where bodies were left on gurneys in a dingy alley behind the building, the grand jury said. authorities said. plundering 1,077 bodies, including those from Philadelphia. The largest demand is for bone used in spinal surgery, but a growing sports-medicine business also has driven up demand for tendons, ligaments and cartilage. and hepatitis when they had actually tested positive, according to the authorities. However, it isn't clear whether what they were allegedly doing is illegal in any way . Mastromarino's lead cutter, and faces a sentence of about 6 1/2 to A human head and spine sold for $850, while a full pelvis all the way to the toes priced out at $2,850. July 8, 2022 - The owner of a Colorado funeral home has pleaded guilty to federal charges of mail fraud after the FBI uncovered an operation to sell body parts of deceased . Of the 244 bodies here, he changed the names on all but 48. Explore life stories, offer tributes & condolences, send flowers or create a lasting online memorial for loved ones. Prosecutors are calling for Hess, who had previously pleaded not guilty, to be sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison. directors were in charge of getting consent. Instead of cremating the bodies, she harvested heads, spines, arms and legs and then sold them, according to court records. In 2003, the grand jury noted, an employee at a tissue- processing company described Mastromarino as "one of the leading procurers in the country," who was providing "a phenomenal amount of stuff. Lee Cruceta, a former nurse who allegedly ran the cutting crew. came home in one piece from the war. transplant recipients suing tissue banks over the often-diseased The group also lowered the donors' ages and changed their dates "My job is to make sure he doesn't do additional time just The parts - bones, skin, tendons and spines - were taken from the deceased without family permission, in unsanitary conditions that one witness likened to a "butcher shop.". Koch's change-of-plea hearing is set for July 12. Several funeral home operators in New York have also pleaded 2. This is a common price to purchase funeral flowers. "In many instances, Koch and Hess neither discussed nor obtained authorization for donation of decedents' bodies or body parts for body broker services," the news release said. The operator of a Colorado funeral home who was accused of stealing body parts and selling them to medical and scientific buyers, making hundreds of thousands of dollars in what the . 7047 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19119. replacements and other procedures around the country. It was not immediately known if the three funeral directors had attorneys. Megan Hess, who operated a funeral home called Sunset Mesa and a human body parts business called Donor Services from the same building, entered the plea to the charge of fraud at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gordon Gallagher in Grand Junction, Colorado. A Colorado funeral home operator was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for cutting up the bodies of 560 people and selling the parts without permission. Bill's Auto Parts owner, died Sunday. PHILADELPHIA Three funeral directors sold hundreds of bodies 1748 W Erie Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19140. The defendants conduct was horrific and morbid and driven by greed, US Attorney Cole Finegan said. Church Truck Drapes; Funeral Supplies . All he was supposed to do was come and harvest the tissue and send the samples down to the processors," defense lawyer Mario Gallucci said. "We, by law, had to grant [James Garzone] his license," said Basil Merenda, commissioner of the state Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs. who lost his oral surgery license amid unrelated drug charges, and MONTROSE, Colo. Two operators of a western Colorado funeral home were sentenced to federal prison Tuesday after being accused of illegally selling the bodies or body parts of hundreds of . Funeral Home Operator Pleads Guilty in Illegal Body Part Scheme, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/05/us/colorado-funeral-home-owner-body-parts-guilty.html. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. All he was supposed to "I've yet to be shown a single shred of evidence that he knew A former employee accused her of earning$40,000 by extracting and selling the gold teeth of some of the deceased as part of the macabre scheme, according to court documents. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? "He's going to plead not guilty, and from what I've heard, the amount that's been suggested for bail is excessive. In court documents, a former employee accused Hess of earning $40,000 by extracting and selling the gold teeth of some of the deceased, an allegation first revealed in the 2018 Reuters report. Sell your breast milk for $1-$3 per ounce. According to NBC, Hess is scheduled to be sentenced in January. By The Associated Press. Chopped into pieces, thrown into luggage; one of the accomplices chose to dump the luggage in little India. Even when families agreed to donation, the news release said, Hess and Koch sometimes sold the remains beyond what the family had authorized. Sell your hair to earn up to $4,000! "Hess, and at times Koch, would meet with families seeking cremation services, and would offer to cremate the decedents' bodies and provide the remains back to the families," the DOJ added, stating that the funeral home "would charge $1,000 or more for cremations, but many never occurred.". The extent of any medical complications that resulted from the transplants remains unknown, she said. When asked to describe the crime in a United States District Court in Grand Junction, Tuesday, Hess said, "I exceeded the scope of the consent and I'm trying to make an effort to make it right," reported The Daily Sentinel. A Colorado funeral home director accused of stealing and selling the body parts of hundreds of people has pleaded guilty to mail fraud. In other instances, the topic of donation was raised by Hess or Koch, and specifically rejected by the families. to a former oral surgeon who allegedly collected the bones, tissue Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal mail fraud. She also offered free cremations in exchange for a body donation. Famous Brooklyn Funeral Home Selling Body Parts 2022. Mom Who Vanished While Celebrating St. Patrick's Day in 2018, Missouri Man Killed 4-Year-Old Girl by Beating, Dunking Her in Icy Pond as Part of 'Religious-Type Episode', Sherri Papini, Who Once Paid Off Credit Cards with Donations from Hoax, Now Owes $309,688 in Restitution, Socialite Mom Pleads Guilty to Secretly Filming Minors for 'Sexual Pleasure' in Her Conn. The group also lowered the donors' ages and changed their dates of death to make it appear the body parts were more fresh, authorities said. do was come and harvest the tissue and send the samples down to the what was going on," lawyer George Vomvolakis said. They took remains without permission from 244 cadavers, an indictment says. Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. charged Thursday after a 16-month investigation. Colorado Funeral Home Director Sentenced to 20 Years in Jail for Illegally Selling Body Parts. But prosecutors here are balking at any 2-for-1 deal. After the Reuters 2018 investigation, Colorado's legislature strengthened the state's oversight. From 2010 through 2018, they would meet with people seeking cremation services either for themselves or their loved ones, according to the plea agreement. Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. An attorney for Gerald Garzone did not return a phone call seeking comment. The district attorney also charged McCafferty and Louis and Gerald Garzone with defrauding a state welfare program that offers help to the poor for burial expenses. Joe Amon / Denver Post via Getty Images file. CNNs Julie In and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report. As with other commodities, prices for bodies and body parts fluctuate with market conditions. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Add to Wishlist . Families of the dead had no idea the bodies were being ransacked. 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. Although taking care of these funerals is a tremendous honor, the owner of McCafferty Funeral Home's real passion is to help all people from different backgrounds get . Friday, April 4, 2008. They want Michael Mastromarino to serve an additional 20 to 40 Megan Hess, 45, admitted to a single count of mail fraud and aiding and abetting, the Department of Justice announced in a press release on Tuesday. In one such case, the donor was HIV-positive and suffered from hepatitis C and cancer. Wales, and James McCafferty, 37, of Philadelphia, have pleaded not of Philadelphia, and Gerald Garzone, 47, of North Wales, along with James McCafferty, 37, of Philadelphia, provided the bodies to Michael Mastromarino and . A former Colorado funeral home owner pleaded guilty to secretly dissecting corpses and selling body parts without consent from mourning relatives. She has been out on bond since her arrest in 2020. All Rights Reserved. After the body parts were removed, the deceased were taken across the street to Liberty for cremation. PHILADELPHIA (AP) - April 4, 2008 patients worldwide. As part of a plea agreement, eight other criminal charges against Ms. Hess were dropped. In any case, the documents say, on hundreds of occasions the funeral home operators would sell heads, torsos, arms, legs or entire human bodies. Louis Garzone's attorney, Howard Kaufman, said he had not seen the grand jury report and so could not comment on the charges. by the Garzones. CNN has reached out to an attorney for Hess for comment. learned the true identities of only 48 of the 244 bodies, Abraham "I love Louis.". Mastromarino is already facing charges in New York for allegedly He has agreed to help locate records for the families and is on trial in New York. A mother and daughter who ran a Colorado funeral home have been arrested for selling body parts and even entire bodies without consent from grieving relatives, federal authorities said . A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Associated Press. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. Donate bone marrow for up to $3,000. A federal grand jury indicted Hess and Koch in 2020. Police Find 31 Decomposing Bodies and 16 Cremated Remains at Funeral Home in Indiana, 'RHOSLC' Star Jen Shah Pleads Guilty to Fraud in Telemarketing Scandal, Everything to Know About 'Real Housewives' Star Jen Shah's Fraud Case, Jen Shah's Husband Could Be Liable to Pay $9 Million Restitution, Expert Says: 'This Is Their Debt', Andy Cohen Is 'Especially Upset' for Fraud 'Victims' After'RHOSLC' 's Jen Shah Enters Guilty Plea, Man Allegedly Driving San Antonio Tractor Trailer Charged After the Deaths of 53 People, 15 'Real Housewives' Stars Who've Been Arrested, Found Remains ID'd as Missing Colo. He said he anticipated that prosecutors would ask for a high bail at an arraigment today. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. Mastromarino is already facing charges in New York for allegedly plundering 1,077 bodies, including those from Philadelphia. They were arrested in 2020 and charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials. GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in .
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