A former Colorado funeral home owner has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on charges of fraud and selling body parts without permission.
"This is the most emotionally draining case I have ever experienced on the bench," U.S. District Judge Christine M. 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."
Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July after a 2018 Reuters investigation into the sale of body parts in the United States. Former workers discussed the operation out of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home, owned by Hess and her mother Shirley Koch, 69, who dismembered bodies and sold the parts while returning ashes to the grieving families.
Koch told the judge she was sorry and took responsibility for her actions, but the judge handed down a 20-year sentence – the maximum allowed under the law.
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"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 in a court filing. "Hess and Koch's conduct caused immense emotional pain for the families and next of kin."
Hess would sell the body parts to medical training companies and other firms. She would charge families up to $1,000 for cremations that never occurred while offering free cremations in exchange for a body donation to others.
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She would then provide ashes from a mixed bin of different corpses.
Selling organs is illegal in the U.S. as they must be donated, but selling parts such as heads, arms and spines for use in research or education is not regulated under federal law.
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Prosecutors claim that the scheme hit at least 200 families, who were horrified to learn the truth of what happened to their departed loved ones.
"Our sweet mother, they dismembered her," Erin Smith, a victim, said. "We don't even have a name for a crime this heinous."
Prosecutors highlighted the "macabre" crime and described it as one of the most significant body parts cases in recent U.S. history. Hess’s lawyer claimed that she had been unfairly vilified as a "witch," a "monster" and a "ghoul."
The judge ordered Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately.
Reuters contributed to this report.
