On Wednesday, two Colorado funeral home operators were sentenced to prison for their involvement in a scheme to sell human remains without the families’ consent. Megan Hess, 46, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and her mother, Shirley Koch, 69, was sentenced to 15 years.
The two women operated Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, and stole and sold body parts or bodies from 2010 to 2018. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, in many cases the families were unaware, and in others they specifically declined to donate the remains of their loved ones.
The scheme was uncovered in 2018 when the FBI raided the funeral home and discovered the illegal sale of body parts. The FBI’s acting special agent in charge in Denver, Leonard Carollo, said in a statement, “But instead of offering guidance, these greedy women betrayed the trust of hundreds of victims and mutilated their loved ones.”
The two women pleaded guilty in 2019 to charges of wire fraud and illegally distributing human tissue. They were also ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution to the families of the victims.
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