The U.S. Attorney's Office for . The grand jury also charged Mastromarino and Lee Cruceta, a former nurse who allegedly ran the cutting crew, with similar counts. 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. 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 . Mastromarino often filled in phony information on death The 244 bodies fetched about $1,000 each, the grand jury found, Human Corpse Being Transported to Funeral Home Ejected from Van in Pileup on N.J. Freeway. Mastromarino, who ran a now-defunct company called Biomedical Tissue Services, is already facing charges in New York for allegedly plundering 1,077 bodies, including those from Philadelphia. Add to Compare. A change of plea hearing for Koch, who initially pleaded not guilty, is scheduled for July 12 added the outlet. 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. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in federal court. The lucrative parts were 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. Ms. Hess and her mother sometimes obtained consent from families to donate small tissue samples or tumors of their dead relative, according to an indictment in the case. unbelievably craven nature of what they did," Philadelphia District While the women sometimes received consent from families "to donate small tissue samples or tumors of their dead relatives," the New York Times reported that the pair supplied body parts for research even when families were never asked for their approval or rejected the request in advance. Find 1 listings related to Mccafferty Funeral Home in Ambler on YP.com. Instead of cremating the bodies, she harvested heads, spines, arms and legs and then sold them, according to court records. PHILADELPHIA (AP) - April 4, 2008 But prosecutors here are balking at any 2-for-1 deal. appreciated. Funeral directors Louis Garzone, 65, of Philadelphia, Gerald Garzone, 47, of North Wales, and James McCafferty, 37, of Philadelphia, were arrested Thursday on thousands of counts, ranging from running a corrupt organization to forgery and theft of body parts. 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 some cases, the pair would ship bodies and body parts that tested positive for or belonged to people who had died from infectious diseases such as Hepatitis B and C and HIV after certifying to buyers that the remains were disease-free, the news release said. In Kensington, neighbors defended Louis Garzone. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. As part of his The three men were paid $1,000 for each body by Biomedical Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J., the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said. Donate bone marrow for up to $3,000. 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. An attorney for Gerald Garzone did not return a phone call seeking comment. Three Philadelphia funeral-home directors were charged yesterday with turning their businesses into gruesome human chop shops that pilfered bones and tissue from the dead to fuel a booming, $1 billion transplant industry. He and Assistant District Attorney Bruce Sagel expect "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.". Generally, a broker can sell a donated human body for about $3,000 to $5,000, though prices sometime . We've received your submission. A second Garzone Funeral Home , at 4151 L St., also is charged. Michael Mastromarino, a businessman and former dentist, ran the scheme with help from a team of "cutters" who stole the body parts, authorities said. The extent of any medical complications that resulted from the transplants remains unknown, she said. The United States Attorney's Office for the District . The other location is at L and Lycoming Streets in Juniata Park. She could face up to 20 years in prison. patients worldwide. donors had died of heart attacks or blunt-force trauma but were 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. Obituaries from the McCafferty-Sweeney Funeral Home, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "One of the cutters said it was like the back of a butcher shop, it was so dirty," Abraham said. Seven The grand jury said five Philadelphia and 41 Pennsylvania hospitals implanted parts that originated with Mastromarino's operation. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. The looted bodies in New York include that of "Masterpiece Many families received ashes mixed with the remains of different cadavers, prosecutors said. $950?". She has been out on bond since her arrest in 2020. [1/2]Megan Hess, owner of Donor Services, is pictured during an interview in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., May 23, 2016 in this still image from video. 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. The company sold the parts to treat burns, replace broken bones and provide for other medical needs, the 111-page indictment said. Many families received ashes from bins mixed with the remains of different cadavers, authorities said, and one client received concrete mix instead of a relative's ashes. She also offered free cremations in exchange for a body donation. Get ready!!!! 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 human head and spine sold for $850, while a full pelvis all the way to the toes priced out at $2,850. In any case, the documents say, on hundreds of occasions the funeral home operators would sell heads, torsos, arms, legs or entire human bodies. While the mostly poor families thought their loved ones were McCafferty, 38, received significantly less time compared to his co-conspirators - brothers . By John Shiffman. Keep reading with a digital access subscription. Mastromarino is already facing charges in New York for allegedly plundering 1,077 bodies, including those from Philadelphia. her fear. The three men also jointly own Liberty Cremation. "They couldn't and wouldn't permit the dead to go to their graves with a shred of dignity," said District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Anyone can read what you share. $1,300. 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.". Ms. Koch has pleaded not guilty, but she has a change of plea hearing scheduled for July 12. The highest prices . (Reuters) -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. Brothers Louis and Gerald Garzone, along with James McCafferty, Dion Rassias, an attorney for the James A. McCafferty Funeral Home, at Frankford and Unruh Avenues in Mayfair, said James McCafferty Jr. was not a director at his mother's funeral home. Megan Hess, operator of Donor Services, in Montrose, Colo., pleaded guilty to mail fraud on Tuesday. Mastromarino has pleaded not guilty to the New York charges. In one such case, the donor then sold to the tissue banks for dental implants, knee and hip Flowers. As part of a plea agreement, eight other criminal charges against Ms. Hess were dropped. Megan Hess, 46, operated the Sunset Mesa funeral home in Montrose, Colorado, alongside a body-parts entity called Donor Services, where she undertook the grisly scheme, starting in 2010. 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. "One of the cutters said it was like the back of a butcher shop, The women ran Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado. Megan Hess, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud, sold body parts without families consent in a business she operated with her mother, officials said. Five indicted for selling body parts . "He was victimized by the funeral directors. He's not a flight risk," Kaufman said shortly after visiting his client last night. Add to cart More. conspiracy, they said. FOR TRANSFERRING BODY ONLY. Two family members and one friend of deceased people whose body parts were sold without permission by Hess spoke at the hearing. All rights reserved. otherwise healthy, prosecutors said. Expand. The grand jury found that the three men collected more than $183,000 from those families and $84,000 more from welfare. "One of the cutters said it was like the back of a butcher shop, it was so dirty," Abraham said. corpse to let Mastromarino's "cutters" hack up bodies, without Seven funeral directors there have pleaded guilty, including one whose funeral home allegedly removed parts from the body of the late "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke. The defendants typically made up names for the donors and also forged family consent forms, the indictment said. A grand jury indictment charges that they were paid $1,000 per and hepatitis when they had actually tested positive, according to the authorities. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. "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. Investigators found 112 cases in which the three men charged indigent clients for services - then billed welfare as well. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? PHILADELPHIA Three funeral directors sold hundreds of bodies Wales, and James McCafferty, 37, of Philadelphia, have pleaded not Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. "No penalty is too harsh for these guys, for the just Mansion, Jen Shah's Assistant Stuart Smith Changes Plea to Guilty in Telemarketing Scheme Case, American Dentist Accused of Plotting Wife's Murder During Africa Hunting Trip. 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. Lee Cruceta, a former nurse who allegedly ran the cutting crew. The income the mother and daughter earned from selling body parts enabled them to become the cheapest option for cremations in their region, increasing their supply of cadavers, the authorities said. who lost his oral surgery license amid unrelated drug charges, and Sell your breast milk for $1-$3 per ounce. Mastromarino has been fighting the New York charges. Thank you for visiting McCafferty Funeral & Cremation Inc. website. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Home would charge $1,000 or more for cremation services, but often failed to carry out the work, authorities said. MONTROSE, Colo. When funeral directors Megan Hess and Shirley Koch were sentenced after admitting to illegally selling body parts from the Sunset Mesa . Nine-year-old Lyric Jones and her mother, Teran Christian, stand outside the courthouse in Grand Junction, Colorado, on Tuesday. They want Michael Mastromarino to serve an additional 20 to 40 years in Philadelphia . at least 244 corpses. The department's position that Trump is not immune from suit was laid out in a filing before a federal appeals court. 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. An attorney for Koch, Thomas E. Goodreid, declined to comment. CNN has reached out to an attorney for Hess for comment. FBI agents found that Hess forged dozens of body-donor consent forms. Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. Cruceta, who lives in Monroe, N.Y., said he believes his client is 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. 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. All rights reserved. Friday, April 4, 2008. 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. Former workers told Reuters about questionable practices at the facility, including the dismembering of bodies without the knowledge or consent of families. 2. PHILADELPHIA Three funeral directors sold hundreds of bodies to a former oral surgeon who allegedly collected the bones, tissue and skin from the corpses to be used in transplants, a grand jury charged Thursday after a 16-month investigation. Discovery Company. July 5 (Reuters) - A former Colorado funeral home owner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal charge of defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting their family members' corpses and selling the body parts without permission, a practice exposed in a 2018 Reuters investigative report. The black-market sales occurred from at least February 2004 through In 2022 Ken Matthews was ranked #70 of the 100 most important Talk Radio Show Hosts in America by the radio industry's TALKERS magazine. 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. Funeral directors found guilty of selling body parts to plastic surgeon, Lawmakers want to strip 19 cities' rights but Tucson is real target, Celebrity Las Vegas chefs opening Tucson restaurant, A bunch of photos of today's snow across Tucson , The highly anticipated Portillo's is now open in Tucson, 'Attainable' apartments coming to northwest Tucson, A big ol' guide to this weekend's Tucson Festival of Books, Watch: The most notable things Tommy Lloyd said after Arizona's heartbreaking loss to ASU, New game, entertainment center makes southwest Tucson a bigger draw, South Tucson motel sold to soup kitchen for housing, Tim Steller's column: Converting Tucson's big boxes, vast parking lots into housing tantalizes, 100 fun events happening in Tucson this March 2023 , Tucson lawmaker loses first bid to dump cities' rights, 'Extreme weather' closes parts of Interstates 17, 40 in Arizona, Nebraska cheerleader competes by herself at state competition, but crowd doesn't let her feel alone, Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison for murders of wife, son, Actor Tom Sizemore's family deciding end of life matters, what to know from the student loan hearing, and more top news, Disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murder in 2021 shootings of his wife, son, Justice Department: Trump can be sued by Capitol police, lawmakers for Jan. 6 actions, Global race is on to improve EV range in the cold, Moscow reportedly threatened new parents in Ukraine: Register your newborns as Russian or else, The impact of climate change will be felt worse in these three U.S. cities. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. "He Mastromarino One client received a concrete mix instead of the remains of their loved one. for days, sometimes in alleys beside the funeral home, until a do was come and harvest the tissue and send the samples down to the vowed to push for concurrent sentences. Hess then "sold those remains to victims purchasing the remains for scientific, medical, or educational purposes," the release added. 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. Copyright 2023 WPVI-TV. thousands of counts, ranging from running a corrupt organization to 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Deli worker killed in apparent robbery on Upper East Side, Lori Lightfoot lost for failing Chicago not because voters are racist/sexist, Investigators want to exhume body of Alex Murdaughs dead housekeeper, Accused pedophile mayor called Pete Buttigieg his buddy and mentor, paid to have their late loved ones cremated. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. 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 . In other instances, the topic of donation was raised by Hess or Koch, and specifically rejected by the families. To maximize profits, Hess targeted poor and vulnerable families, struggling as they made arrangements in their relatives final days, according to court documents. But the sale of cadavers and body parts for use in research or education, which is what Hess did, is not regulated by federal law. years in Philadelphia, where they say his team of cutters plundered Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J., ran the scheme with help from a She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity . The funeral directors were in charge of getting consent. The grand jury report said, though, that James Garzone is not the one in charge. Updated After the Reuters 2018 investigation, Colorado's legislature strengthened the state's oversight. Agnes Folger believes the body of her 81-year-old husband, The empty Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors & Donor Services in Montrose, Colorado. The black-market sales occurred from at least February 2004 through September 2005, prosecutors said. Prosecutors allege that the men took tissue samples from . 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 Thursday. Experts estimate that a single body can be worth $100,000 in parts, and the industry as a whole has topped $1 billion in revenue per year. Add to Wishlist . They want Michael Mastromarino to serve an additional 20 to 40 replacements and other procedures around the country. They each pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and aiding and abetting. While the mostly poor families thought their loved ones were being cremated quickly, the bodies were often left unrefrigerated for days, sometimes in alleys beside the funeral home, until a cutter arrived, authorities said. The funeral Mastromarino then falsified paperwork to change the causes of death, the age of the deceased and their medical history, the grand jury said. In such a growing industry, small, unaccredited outfits outnumber the accredited ones, experts said. In New York City, four men have been indicted for stealing body parts from a Brooklyn funeral home and selling them for transplant. September 2005, prosecutors said. Heres how prosecutors said the scheme worked: From about 2010 to 2018 Ms. Hess was in charge of Donor Services, a nonprofit body broker service, and Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors, which offered to arrange cremations, funerals and burials in the small western Colorado city of Montrose. Lee Cruceta, 35, of Monroe, N.Y., has admitted to being Hess has been free on bond since her arrest. 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. Disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been convicted of murder in the 2021 shootings of his wife and son. Mastromarino claimed that none of the deceased died in a hospital, in order to explain why there were no medical records, according to the grand jury report. July 5, 2022 9:58pm. 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 . "This was not a coincidence," the grand jury said. Hess, 45, and her mother, Shirley Koch, operated the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. The scheme included forging paperwork, such as signatures on authorization forms for donating body parts, and misleading buyers about the results of medical tests performed on the deceased, court documents said. Prosecutors In Philadelphia, most of the bodies were scheduled for cremation 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 . "Both Louis and Gerald continue to run their businesses, pretty much as they did before," the report said. The body-part industry has been booming, growing from 200,000 transplants in 1989 to 1,200,000 in 2003. REUTERS. Those potentially dangerous body parts were sold and transplanted into thousands of patients. All Rights Reserved. was not immediately clear if they had attorneys. "My job is to make sure he doesn't do additional time just part is pursuing a civil suit, Abraham 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. 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 . This story has been shared 102,319 times. Megan Hess was sentenced to 20 years in prison and her mother, Shirley Koch, received 15 years for their involvement in the scheme to sell the human remains to body broker services, according to federal prosecutors. A lawyer for CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. They were arrested in 2020 and charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials. On other occasions, their request was rejected, and sometimes, they never brought up the topic at all. plea with New York prosecutors, he agreed to forfeit $4.68 million. The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado said in a release Tuesday, that Meghan Hess, 45, of Montrose, Colorado had pleaded guilty to running a complex fraud "devised and executed to steal the bodies or body parts of hundreds of victims," from 2010 to 2018.