Former US funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years jail for fraud over selling body parts
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-04/ex-funeral-home-owner-20-years-jail-selling-corpses-body-parts/101827286
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A former Colorado funeral home owner has been sentenced to 20 years in a US prison for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 corpses and selling body parts without permission.
Key points:
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Megan Hess operated a funeral home and a body parts entity from the same building in Colorado
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She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to the maximum penalty allowed under law
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Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years
WARNING: Readers may find details in this story distressing
Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July.
She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado.
The 20-year term was the maximum allowed under law.
Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. Koch's central role was chopping up the bodies, court records show.
"Hess and Koch used their funeral home at times to essentially steal bodies and body parts using fraudulent and forged donor forms," prosecutor Tim Neff said.
"Hess and Koch's conduct caused immense emotional pain for the families and next of kin."
The federal case was triggered by a 2016–2018 Reuters investigative series about the sale of body parts in the United States, a virtually unregulated industry.
'Macabre nature'
Former workers told Reuters that Hess and Koch conducted unauthorised dismemberments of bodies, and a few weeks after a 2018 story was published, the FBI raided the business.
In their filing, prosecutors stressed the "macabre nature" of Hess' scheme and described it as one of the most significant body parts cases in recent US history.
"This is the most emotionally draining case I have ever experienced on the bench," US District Judge Christine Arguello said during Tuesday's sentencing hearing in Grand Junction, Colorado.
"It's concerning to the court that defendant Hess refuses to assume any responsibility for her conduct."
The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately.
Hess' lawyer said she had been unfairly vilified as a "witch," a "monster" and a "ghoul," when instead she was a "broken human being" whose conduct could be attributed to a traumatic brain injury at age 18.
In court on Tuesday, Hess declined to speak to the judge.
'Our sweet mother, they dismembered her'
Twenty-six victims described their horror at discovering what had happened to their loved ones.
"Our sweet mother, they dismembered her," Erin Smith said, selling her shoulders, knees and feet for profit.
"We don't even have a name for a crime this heinous."
Tina Shanon, whose mother was dismembered against her will, told the court, "I've worn many masks to cover the pain. I'll never be OK."
It is illegal in the US to sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant — they must be donated.
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.
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.
The surgical-training companies and other firms which bought the arms, legs, heads and torsos from Hess did not know they had been fraudulently obtained, prosecutors said.
At her funeral home, Hess charged families up to $1,470 for cremations that never occurred, prosecutors said, and she offered others free cremations in exchange for a body donation.
Prosecutors said she lied to more than 200 families, who received cremated ashes from bins mixed with the remains of different bodies.
EXCLUSIVE: Amateur artist Hunter Biden paints himself into a corner as mother of his love child demands he reveal identities of mystery - and perhaps foreign - buyers who have paid $500k for his works after he cried poverty in bid to lower support payments
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11595507/Hunter-Bidens-baby-mama-demands-reveal-buyers-500k-paintings.html
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Hunter Biden is attempting to lower his child support payments for his four-year-old lovechild who he shares with Lunden Roberts
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The First Son cited a 'substantial material change' in his personal finances
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DailyMail.com can reveal that Roberts, 31, is demanding to know how much Hunter received from selling his artwork and the names of the buyers
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'If Hunter wants to renegotiate the child support on financial grounds he'll have no choice but to disclose details of all his income,' a source said
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The lovechild, Navy Joan, is the fourth of Hunter's five children but neither he, nor his parents, have ever met the child or publicly acknowledged her existence
Hunter Biden is attempting to lower his child support payments for his four-year-old lovechild who he shares with Lunden Roberts
The First Son cited a 'substantial material change' in his personal finances
DailyMail.com can reveal that Roberts, 31, is demanding to know how much Hunter received from selling his artwork and the names of the buyers
'If Hunter wants to renegotiate the child support on financial grounds he'll have no choice but to disclose details of all his income,' a source said
The lovechild, Navy Joan, is the fourth of Hunter's five children but neither he, nor his parents, have ever met the child or publicly acknowledged her existence
But single mom Roberts, 31, has pushed back by demanding to know exactly how much her former flame has pocketed from his pictures - and the names and details of all his buyers.
The move would force Hunter to finally disclose in publicly-filed court documents the identities of the mystery art lovers who are shelling out between $75,000 and $500,000 for works by a self-taught beginner.
This comes days after Roberts filed a petition to change Navy Joan's last name from Roberts to Biden. Clinton Lancaster, Roberts' attorney, said that Navy would 'benefit from carrying the Biden family name,' adding that the name is 'now synonymous with being well educated, successful, financially acute, and politically powerful.'
Additionally, if Roberts can prove the recovering drug addict is actually banking more thanks to his newfound vocation the court could decide to raise his child support payments instead of lowering them.
'If Hunter wants to renegotiate the child support on financial grounds he'll have no choice but to disclose details of all his income.
'And art sales would absolutely qualify as income under Arkansas law,' a reliable source told DailyMail.com.
Neither Hunter, nor his parents, have ever met the Navy Joan or publicly acknowledged her existence
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Neither Hunter, nor his parents, have ever met the Navy Joan or publicly acknowledged her existence
'Lunden has submitted through her attorney a long list of questions under the discovery process. She wants to know every cent Hunter has made from his art, what exactly he's sold and the names of all his buyers.
'All that information will become public in the court records unless Hunter can persuade a judge to seal the records. He may find that he's bitten off more than he can chew.'
Roberts won a reported $2.5 million settlement from Hunter after taking him to court in 2019 and forcing him to take a DNA test to prove he fathered Navy Joan during their short-lived fling.
The adorable, blonde-haired girl is the fourth of his five children but neither he, nor his parents Joe and Jill Biden, have ever met the child or publicly acknowledged her existence.
Hunter claimed during the bitter, 10-month case that he was 'unemployed and had no monthly income' despite living in a $12,000-per-month Hollywood rental and driving a Porsche.
But when an Independence County, Arkansas judge ordered him to produce financial records he balked and settled out of court, the two sides announcing a 'global, final settlement of all issues'.
The deal proved anything but final when Hunter filed in September to have the case reopened, writing: 'Since the entry of the existing child support order there has been a substantial material change in the Movant's financial circumstances, including but not limited to his income.'
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