Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. They took remains without permission from 244 cadavers, an indictment says. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. Legal Statement. Disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been convicted of murder in the 2021 shootings of his wife and son. Prosecutors are calling for Hess, who had previously pleaded not guilty, to be sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison. Mastromarino, 44, remains in New York custody after his guilty Two morticians operating . vowed to push for concurrent sentences. Lee Cruceta, a former nurse who allegedly ran the cutting crew. replacements and other procedures around the country. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal mail fraud. ", The statement added that "These shipments would be through the mail or on commercial air flights in violation of Department of Transportation regulations regarding the transportation of hazardous materials.". 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. This is the only funeral home my family has ever used. A federal grand jury indicted Hess and Koch in 2020. last year but continued to run their two homes in Philadelphia, Attorney Lynne Abraham said at a news conference. James E Fyfe Funeral Director. "He's going to plead not guilty, and from what I've heard, the amount that's been suggested for bail is excessive. Hess had created a nonprofit organization in 2009 called Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation as a body-broker service doing business as Donor Services, authorities said. "They were motivated by greed.". Indicted on similar counts were Brooklyn residents Mastromarino, 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 . Indicted on similar counts were Brooklyn residents Mastromarino, who lost his oral surgery license amid unrelated drug charges, and Lee Cruceta, a former nurse who allegedly ran the cutting crew. The two men were expected to surrender to Philadelphia authorities this week. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday by a federal court judge. CNN has reached out to an attorney for Hess for comment. I exceeded the scope of the consent and Im trying to make an effort to make it right, Ms. Hess said in United States District Court in Grand Junction, Colo., on Tuesday, according to The Daily Sentinel. (Reuters) - A second Colorado woman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to defrauding relatives of the dead as part of a scheme in which a funeral home sold body parts without permission . The funeral directors forged death certificates that said the donors had died of heart attacks or blunt-force trauma but were otherwise healthy, prosecutors said. They told the judge that while they were still emotionally reeling from the episode and wanted to learn more details about what occurred, they welcomed the news that Hess had decided to plead guilty. learned the true identities of only 48 of the 244 bodies, Abraham Those body parts were sold to at least five processing companies and one major distributor. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. husband's body parts.". The women ran Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado. Keep reading with a digital access subscription. Abraham said. Theatre" host Alistair Cooke. at least 244 corpses. Updated. While the mostly poor families thought their loved ones were "There was no basis for us to take any action against James.". Funeral directors Louis Garzone, 65, Gerald Garzone, 47, and James McCafferty, 37, were arrested Thursday on thousands of counts, ranging from running a corrupt organization to forgery and theft of body parts. and provide for other medical needs, the 111-page indictment said. was not immediately clear if they had attorneys. 1,700 counts charged, such as running a criminal enterprise and Sell your poop for up to $1,500 per month. Church Truck Drapes; Funeral Supplies . . "He was victimized by the funeral directors. "One of the cutters said it was like the back of a butcher shop, it was so dirty," Abraham said. Colorado funeral home owners sentenced to federal prison for selling body parts without families' permission Judge sentences Megan Hess to 20 years in prison and gives Shirley Koch a 15-year . The founder of that company, Michael Mastromarino, a dentist stripped of his license for drug offenses, and his partner, Lee Cruceta, also were charged yesterday. Mastromarino plans to surrender Tuesday in Philadelphia and will Mastromarino Two funeral home operators in Colorado were sentenced Wednesday for illegally selling bodies and body parts without the families' consent, the US Attorney's Office said. 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. PHILADELPHIA (AP) - April 4, 2008 The company sold the parts to treat burns, replace broken bones Updated A Colorado funeral home director accused of stealing and selling the body parts of hundreds of people has pleaded guilty to mail fraud. of death on a death certificate signed by Gerard Garzone confirms Hess forged dozens of body donor consent forms, federal investigators found. According to authorities, they made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling off bodies . or redistributed. team of "cutters" who stole the body parts, authorities said. Hess is tentatively set to be sentenced in January. That term was cut short Sunday morning when Mastromarino, 49, died at a New York hospital. Mastromarino often filled in phony information on death "My job is to make sure he doesn't do additional time just The defendants typically made up names for the donors and forged family consent forms, the indictment said. They each pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and aiding and abetting. Obituaries from the McCafferty-Sweeney Funeral Home, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. About 10,000 people received tissue supplied by BTS. A second Garzone Funeral Home , at 4151 L St., also is charged. A lawyer for Cruceta, who lives in Monroe, N.Y., said he believes his client is innocent. 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 . 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. Chopped into pieces, thrown into luggage; one of the accomplices chose to dump the luggage in little India. One client received a concrete mix instead of the remains of their loved one. Like Gore, Rathburn would also be convicted but in federal court of fraud for selling and transporting infected body parts. "He's obviously not in great spirits, but he's doing OK given the circumstances.". In one such case, the donor was HIV-positive and suffered from hepatitis C and cancer. Parts & Accessories; Church Trucks. came home in one piece from the war. do was come and harvest the tissue and send the samples down to the Prosecutors allege that the men took tissue samples from . Still, the authorities said, families typically paid $1,000 or more for a cremation that often never occurred. Two family members and one friend of deceased people whose body parts were sold without permission by Hess spoke at the hearing. Bill's Auto Parts owner, died Sunday. Philadelphia on Friday, but defense lawyer Charles A. Peruto Jr. A further eight criminal charges against her were dropped as a part of a plea deal, the newspaper added Tuesday. Few state laws provide any regulation, and almost anyone, regardless of expertise, can dissect and sell human body parts. "No penalty is too harsh for these guys, for the just To maximize profits, Hess targeted poor and vulnerable families, struggling as they made arrangements in their relatives final days, according to court documents. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors & Donor Services building sits empty in Montrose, Colorado, in 2018. 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. Lawyers for Ms. Hess did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Tuesday. Tweet. $950?". Mar 19, 2020 at 8:17 pm. Get ready!!!! GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday by a federal court . If you wish to speak to Mark McCafferty right away please call 215-531-5014 or 215-432-8339 (cell) or 267-978-8869 (cell). All three men were jailed yesterday. They have four or five deaths a day. Three funeral directors sold 244 corpses for about $1,000 each to a New York businessman who trafficked in the resale of often-diseased body parts, a grand jury charged Thursday. The black-market sales went on from at least February 2004 through September 2005, prosecutors said. Megan Hess admitted to selling body parts without permission of the families of the deceased. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Explore life stories, offer tributes & condolences, send flowers or create a lasting online memorial for loved ones. Find the indictment, photos, past coverage and more at http://go.philly.com/bodyparts EndText, By Troy Graham and Dwight Ott, Inquirer Staff Writers. Ms. Koch has pleaded not guilty, but she has a change of plea hearing scheduled for July 12. So far, authorities have learned the true identities of only 48 of the 244 bodies, Abraham said. In fact, the mother-daughter team had been illegally selling hundreds of corpses intended for cremation out of the family funeral home in Montrose, Colorado for almost a decade. In 2014, the FBI raided Gore's chop shop in Phoenix, and were . the families' knowledge or permission. Megan Hess and her mother Shirley Koch defrauded over 200 families by handing over random ashes while selling body parts of deceased individuals entrusted to their funeral home. He did not appear at a pretrial hearing in and hepatitis when they had actually tested positive, according to the authorities. "Both Louis and Gerald continue to run their businesses, pretty much as they did before," the report said. REUTERS. 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 . (Reuters) - A second Colorado woman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to defrauding relatives of the dead as part of a scheme in which a funeral . The three funeral-home directors - Louis Garzone, 65; his brother Gerald Garzone, 47; and James A. McCafferty Jr., 37 - were accused of plundering 244 cadavers between February 2004 and September 2005. Megan Hess, operator of Donor Services, in Montrose, Colo., pleaded guilty to mail fraud on Tuesday. The three funeral-home directors - Louis Garzone, 65; his brother Gerald Garzone, 47; and James A. McCafferty Jr., 37 - were accused of plundering 244 cadavers between February 2004 and September 2005. Buy this on Ever Loved. 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 . McCafferty, 37, of Philadelphia; were arrested Thursday on Michael Mastromarino, a businessman and former dentist, ran the scheme with help from a team of "cutters" who stole the body parts, authorities said. of death to make it appear the body parts were more fresh, After Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Chaffin made his sentencing recommendation, the lawyer for Hess, Dan Shaffer, urged a lighter sentence of about two years in prison. CNNs Julie In and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report. Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. On his way to dispose the luggage, a amdk Samaritan saw the man struggling with the luggage and offered to help. The Reuters series uncovered the actions of Sunset Mesa and Donor Services. The group also lowered the donors' ages and changed their dates Associated Press. ", Some of the parts taken in Philadelphia came from people who had died of cancer, sepsis, HIV and hepatitis, the grand jury said.