A Colorado funeral home director accused of stealing and selling the body parts of hundreds of people has pleaded guilty to mail fraud. 1748 W Erie Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19140. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. In one such case, the donor was HIV-positive and suffered from hepatitis C and cancer. The hoax revelation was first carried by the Ma To maximize profits, Hess targeted poor and vulnerable families, struggling as they made arrangements in their relatives final days, according to court documents. Mastromarino plans to surrender Tuesday and will fight the charges, his lawyer said. donors had died of heart attacks or blunt-force trauma but were The defendants typically made up names for the donors and forged A human head and spine sold for $850, while a full pelvis all the way to the toes priced out at $2,850. plea with New York prosecutors, he agreed to forfeit $4.68 million. 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 federal court. PHILADELPHIA (AP) - April 4, 2008 The transfers were done through Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation and Donor Services, authorities said. Megan Hess, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud, sold body parts without families consent in a business she operated with her mother, officials said. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. The latest Gabs from KenMatthews (@KenMatthews). Selling organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant is illegal in the United States. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. Prosecutors allege that the men took tissue samples from . Donate your sperm to earn up to $1,500/mo! 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One 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. was HIV-positive and suffered from hepatitis C and cancer. IE 11 is not supported. The funeral directors were in charge of getting consent. Prosecutors The women ran Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado. Mastromarino often filled in phony information on death "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.". A stout, ruddy-faced James McCafferty Jr. - the third of the Philadelphia funeral-home operators who participated in the sickening national scam to illegally sell body parts - was sentenced yesterday to 3 1/2 to 10 years in state prison. Koch's change-of-plea hearing is set for July 12. Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. FBI agents found that Hess forged dozens of body-donor consent forms. Two family members and one friend of deceased people whose body parts were sold without permission by Hess spoke at the hearing. "I love Louis.". 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. 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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. Expand. Famous Brooklyn Funeral Home Selling Body Parts 2022. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. 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. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. corruption, body stealing and reckless endangerment. husband's body parts.". Many families received ashes mixed with the remains of different cadavers, prosecutors said. An attorney for Koch, Thomas E. Goodreid, declined to comment. Written by Maya Davis. Donate your eggs to earn up to $10,000! See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Louis Garzone, 65, of Philadelphia, Gerald Garzone, 47, of North cutter arrived, authorities said. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. The dispute will likely be left for Common Pleas Judge Glenn One of the "cutters" who removed body parts told the grand jury that he once saw a body in the alley, covered with a blue "Astroturf-like material," a sparrow perched on the head. Mastromarino has been fighting the New York charges. A former employee accused her of earning$40,000 by extracting and selling the gold teeth of some of the deceased as part of the macabre scheme, according to court documents. One of the cadavers was that of Alistair Cooke, the host of Masterpiece Theater, who died in 2004 of cancer. The two men were expected to surrender to Philadelphia authorities this week. In a cruel twist, the mother-and-daughter team also repeatedly lied to grieving families about the status of their loved one's bodies or flat out ignored their wishes, said the DOJ. Hess and Koch also shipped bodies and body parts that tested positive for, or belonged to people who died from, infectious diseases including Hepatitis B and C, and HIV, despite certifying to buyers that the remains were disease-free, authorities said. Market data provided by Factset. By John Shiffman. A lawyer for Cruceta, who lives in Monroe, N.Y., said he believes his client is innocent. Louis Garzone's attorney, Howard Kaufman, said he had not seen the grand jury report and so could not comment on the charges. beauty. Auto Body Shops Auto Glass Repair Auto Parts Auto Repair Car Detailing Oil Change Roadside Assistance Tire Shops Towing Window Tinting. The looted bodies in New York include that of "Masterpiece woman who believes she contracted hepatitis from a tainted body (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 two women also delivered cremated remains to families that did not belong to the families loved ones, the news release said. A further eight criminal charges against her were dropped as a part of a plea deal, the newspaper added Tuesday. Michael Mastromarino, who operated the now-defunct Biomedical Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J., ran the scheme with help from a team of "cutters" who stole the body parts, authorities said. G. Frank Page, Jr. Funeral Home. The three men also jointly own Liberty Cremation. The funeral directors forged death certificates that said the In 2009, Hess and her mother, Shirley Koch, launched a nonprofit donor services organization called Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation, a body-broker service operating out of the funeral home doing business that would sell body parts to third parties mostly for surgical training and other educational purposes. Mastromarino is already facing charges in New York for allegedly plundering 1,077 bodies, including those from Philadelphia. Lawyers for Ms. Hess did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Tuesday. The highest prices . Louis Garzone even ran this scheme, the grand jury said, in the case of five children killed in a 2005 fire in Tacony, a tragedy that drew an offer from the musician Stevie Wonder to pay for the funerals. Second plea in U.S. funeral home scheme to sell body parts. The funeral directors were in charge of getting consent. guilty. They were arrested in 2020 and charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials. Thanks for contacting us. Hess has been free on bond since her arrest. One national law firm has clients who were patients at Temple, Hahnemann, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein Hospitals in Philadelphia, Holy Redeemer Hospital in Montgomery County, and Shore Memorial Hospital and AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in New Jersey. alleged underlings, three funeral home operators from North Respond: Write a letter to the editor | Write a guest opinion. She also offered free cremations in exchange for a body donation. In 2014, the FBI raided Gore's chop shop in Phoenix, and were . "I've yet to be shown a single shred of evidence that he knew what was going on," lawyer George Vomvolakis said. Explore life stories, offer tributes & condolences, send flowers or create a lasting online memorial for loved ones. 2. "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke. Im taking responsibility.. 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. Tweet. guilty and, along with Mastromarino, are set for trial on Sept. 2. However, it isn't clear whether what they were allegedly doing is illegal in any way . You have permission to edit this article. Discovery Company. Much of the work took place at the Louis Garzone Funeral Home, at Somerset and Jasper Streets in Kensington, where bodies were left on gurneys in a dingy alley behind the building, the grand jury said. 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 New York City, four men have been indicted for stealing body parts from a Brooklyn funeral home and selling them for transplant. They want Michael Mastromarino to serve an additional 20 to 40 years in Philadelphia . otherwise healthy, prosecutors said. Hess, 45, and her mother, Shirley Koch, operated the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. All three men were jailed yesterday. Flowers. From 2017-2021 Matthews was a guest host for RUSH Limbaugh and had the honor of hosting the last show on Rush's EIB Network-including the final Open Line Friday. During the hearing, the judge asked Hess to describe in her own words the crimes she committed. Copyright 2023 WPVI-TV. So far, authorities have learned the true identities of only 48 of the 244 bodies, Abraham said. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison By The Associated Press January 4, 2023, 12:16 AM PHILADELPHIA (AP) - April 4, 2008 But prosecutors here are balking at any 2-for-1 deal. Thank you for visiting McCafferty Funeral & Cremation Inc. website. CNNs Julie In and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. They have four or five deaths a day. The company sold the parts to treat burns, replace broken bones and provide for other medical needs, the 111-page indictment said. He did not appear at a pretrial hearing in The largest demand is for bone used in spinal surgery, but a growing sports-medicine business also has driven up demand for tendons, ligaments and cartilage. do was come and harvest the tissue and send the samples down to the The group also lowered the donors' ages and changed their dates Funeral directors Louis Garzone, 65, of Philadelphia; his . ", Some of the parts taken in Philadelphia came from people who had died of cancer, sepsis, HIV and hepatitis, the grand jury said. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. Parts are supposed to be harvested within 15 hours of death, but some of those in Philadelphia sat unrefrigerated for up to 100 hours. Both Hess and Koch originally had pleaded not guilty to the charges. She has been out on bond since her arrest in 2020. Mastromarino has pleaded not guilty to the New York charges. 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. September 2005, prosecutors said. 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. So far, authorities have 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. 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. Mastromarino is already facing charges in New York for allegedly Prior to the raid, the cost of purchasing an arm and shoulder was $600. These two women preyed on vulnerable victims who turned to them in a time of grief and sadness. They each pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and aiding and abetting. it was so dirty," Abraham said. The district attorney also charged McCafferty and Louis and Gerald Garzone with defrauding a state welfare program that offers help to the poor for burial expenses. A lawyer for FOR TRANSFERRING BODY ONLY. Church Truck Drapes; Funeral Supplies . 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. A judge sentenced a Colorado funeral-home owner who carved up corpses and sold parts of them without families' permission to 20 years in prison on Tuesday, according to the Department of Justice. He has agreed to help locate records for the families and unbelievably craven nature of what they did," Philadelphia District Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J., ran the scheme with help from a 20 years for crimes in both states. Get ready!!!! As with other commodities, prices for bodies and body parts fluctuate with market conditions. This is the only funeral home my family has ever used. Then amdk realised the luggage is overflowing with blood. The funeral-home directors and their partners, two men who bought the tissue for resale, then falsified paperwork to make the "donors" appear healthy, the report said. "I've yet to be shown a single shred of evidence that he knew Legal Statement. One Philadelphia woman who believes she contracted hepatitis from a tainted body part is pursuing a civil suit. In one such case, the donor charged Thursday after a 16-month investigation. One client received a concrete mix instead of the remains of their loved one. In Philadelphia, most of the bodies were scheduled for cremation "We, by law, had to grant [James Garzone] his license," said Basil Merenda, commissioner of the state Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs. We've received your submission. A Colorado funeral home director accused of stealing and selling the body parts of hundreds of people has pleaded guilty to mail fraud. 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 . transplant recipients suing tissue banks over the often-diseased Another cutter, Chris Aldorasi, Seven The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. 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. Charges also were filed against Louis and Gerald Garzone's funeral homes and the crematorium, but not the McCafferty funeral home. Others were "riddled with infections.". When prodded by the judge, Hess agreed with the prosecution that she defrauded her victims, though she declined to go into detail. 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. 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. Lee Cruceta, a former nurse who allegedly ran the cutting crew. Mobi Medical Supply also offers quality mortuary stretchers and cots for the funeral home and removal services industry. Mastromarino owned Biomedical Tissue Services, a New Jersey Associated Press. younger brother, Gerald Garzone, 47, of North Wales; and James funeral directors there have pleaded guilty, including one whose Bill's Auto Parts owner, died Sunday. 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. The defendants typically made up names for the donors and also forged family consent forms, the indictment said. 7047 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19119. A funeral home in Colorado has been investigated for cutting off body parts from its clients and selling them. Megan Hess, 46, was sentenced Tuesday at a hearing in Grand Junction, Colorado for dissecting 560 . Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. Chopped into pieces, thrown into luggage; one of the accomplices chose to dump the luggage in little India. All he was supposed to 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 . For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Hundreds of patient lawsuits have been filed in federal court in New Jersey and state courts around the country. Philadelphia on Friday, but defense lawyer Charles A. Peruto Jr. "For them, nothing was beyond the pale - not stealing flesh and bones from the dead or lying to the bereaved, not forging and lying on thousands of documents, not putting the public's health at risk," the report said. or redistributed. 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. "There was no basis for us to take any action against James.". 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 . The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors & Donor Services building sits empty in Montrose, Colorado, in 2018. The Associated Press. then sold to the tissue banks for dental implants, knee and hip A former Colorado funeral home owner pleaded guilty to secretly . (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. The elaborate scheme also included forged paperwork and "misleading buyers about the results of medical tests" performed on the bodies, added the Times, citing court documents. 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. Folger, who brought a small U.S. flag to the court hearing. 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 . 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. In such circumstances, despite lacking any authorization, Koch and Hess recovered body parts from, or otherwise prepared entire bodies of hundreds of decedents for body broker services.. CNN has reached out to an attorney for Hess for comment. This is the cost to purchase a burial vault from the funeral home. Although taking care of these funerals is a tremendous honor, the owner of McCafferty Funeral Home's real passion is to help all people from different backgrounds get . Market data provided by Factset. When the cheerleading coach broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, Kohel was determined to compete anyway. Families of the dead had no idea the bodies were being ransacked. "Hess and Koch also delivered remains to families with the representation that the remains were that of the deceased when, frequently, that was not the case," it added. The three Philadelphia suspects were taken into custody and it was not immediately clear if they had attorneys. and hepatitis when they had actually tested positive, according to the authorities. Former workers describe troubling practices at this mortuary. 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. She could face up to 20 years in prison. On his way to dispose the luggage, a amdk Samaritan saw the man struggling with the luggage and offered to help. A change of plea hearing for Koch, who initially pleaded not guilty, is scheduled for July 12 added the outlet. Ms. Hess altered lab reports so that they said that people had tested negative for diseases like H.I.V. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, 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. About a month after the Reuters stories, the FBI raided the site and state regulators shuttered the funeral home and crematory. "Meeting with hospice on the 4th opening the floodgates of donors," Hess wrote to a prospective body-part buyer in 2014. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. The company sold the parts to treat burns, replace broken bones We hope these prison sentences will bring the victims family members some amount of peace as they move forward in the grieving process.. of Philadelphia, and Gerald Garzone, 47, of North Wales, along with James McCafferty, 37, of Philadelphia, provided the bodies to Michael Mastromarino and . An attorney for Gerald Garzone did not return a phone call seeking comment. This is a common price to purchase funeral flowers. Morgan Cemetery A federal grand jury indicted Hess and Koch in 2020. the families' knowledge or permission. According to NBC, Hess is scheduled to be sentenced in January. for days, sometimes in alleys beside the funeral home, until a 8-year-old cheerleader dies after Fourth of July parade ac Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Murdaugh son collapsed outside court after sitting stone-faced through dad's 6-week murder trial: source, Hated Tom Sandoval addresses Ariana Madix split amid cheating claims, Kelly Osbourne posts first photo of baby son as he hangs out with uncle Jack, Greys Anatomy alum Isaiah Washington retiring from acting: The haters have won, Max Scherzer's first look at the new pitch clock, Chris Rock Jokes About Watching Emancipation to See Will Smith Getting Whipped In Advance of Netflix Special: Report, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. was not immediately clear if they had attorneys. Mechafanboy said: There's a case in little India a few years back. In fact, the grand jury said, the lack of oversight helped Mastromarino go undetected for years, and it recommended a raft of changes that state and federal overseers should make.