Louis Garzone's attorney, Howard Kaufman, said he had not seen the grand jury report and so could not comment on the charges. said. Buy this on Ever Loved. 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. She could face up to 20 years in prison. The grand jury found that the three men collected more than $183,000 from those families and $84,000 more from welfare. funeral directors there have pleaded guilty, including one whose G. Frank Page, Jr. Funeral Home. "They were motivated by greed.". A lawyer for Cruceta, who lives in Monroe, N.Y., said he believes his client is innocent. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Hess initially called the whole affair a "legal travesty." parts, Peruto said. The dispute will likely be left for Common Pleas Judge Glenn Mastromarino has pleaded not guilty to the New York charges. State Automobile Insurance Co. sued Garzone Funeral Home Inc. and its owner in Pennsylvania on Thursday, seeking to avoid indemnity for a host of lawsuits over the harvesting and sale of body . "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. of death on a death certificate signed by Gerard Garzone confirms Wetzel and Son Funeral Home Inc. 6902 Rising Sun Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19111. Copyright 2023 WPVI-TV. Market data provided by Factset. The lucrative parts were However, it isn't clear whether what they were allegedly doing is illegal in any way . family consent forms, the indictment said. Hess is tentatively set to be sentenced in January. This is the cost to purchase a burial vault from the funeral home. Prosecutors are calling for Hess, who had previously pleaded not guilty, to be sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison. Most brokers who sell body parts offer to cremate part of the donor's body for free. 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 . appreciated. cutter arrived, authorities said. Sell your hair to earn up to $4,000! Mastromarino plans to surrender Tuesday and will fight the charges, his lawyer said. "Meeting with hospice on the 4th opening the floodgates of donors," Hess wrote to a prospective body-part buyer in 2014. The two women also delivered cremated remains to families that did not belong to the families loved ones, the news release said. 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. One of the cadavers was that of Alistair Cooke, the host of Masterpiece Theater, who died in 2004 of cancer. The garzone brothers each own a funeral home and mccafferty was the director at a funeral home owned by his mother, the report said. Seven He said the state was investigating whether Louis and Gerald Garzone were still running their businesses without a license. 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. 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 . According to authorities, they made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling off bodies . Many families received ashes mixed with the remains of different cadavers, prosecutors said. He and Assistant District Attorney Bruce Sagel expect 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. As with other commodities, prices for bodies and body parts fluctuate with market conditions. A Warner Bros. As part of his Ms. Hess altered lab reports so that they said that people had tested negative for diseases like H.I.V. 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. Market data provided by Factset. As part of a plea agreement, eight other criminal charges against Ms. Hess were dropped. guilty and, along with Mastromarino, are set for trial on Sept. 2. Mastromarino pleaded guilty to 14 counts that include enterprise REUTERS. See reviews, photos, directions, phone numbers and more for Mccafferty Funeral Home locations in Ambler, PA. . "My job is to make sure he doesn't do additional time just Written by Maya Davis. 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. conspiracy, they said. Associated Press. 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. These two women preyed on vulnerable victims who turned to them in a time of grief and sadness. The Garzone brothers each own a funeral home and McCafferty was the director at a funeral home owned by his mother, the report said. A lawyer for Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. You have permission to edit this article. 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Even when families agreed to donation, the news release said, Hess and Koch sometimes sold the remains beyond what the family had authorized. After the Reuters 2018 investigation, Colorado's legislature strengthened the state's oversight. The looted bodies in New York include that of "Masterpiece Mastromarino is already facing charges in New York for allegedly made millions on the scheme, prosecutors say. Mastromarino often filled in phony information on death The Sunset Mesa Funeral Home would charge $1,000 or more for cremation services, but often failed to carry out the work, authorities said. Two funeral home operators in Colorado were sentenced Wednesday for illegally selling bodies and body parts without the families consent, the US Attorneys Office said. Updated Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. Hess, 45, admitted on Tuesday that through her funeral home, located in the town of Montrose in the western part of the state, she defrauded at least a dozen families seeking cremation services for deceased relatives. 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Lee Cruceta, a former nurse who allegedly ran the cutting crew. then sold to the tissue banks for dental implants, knee and hip The 244 bodies fetched about $1,000 each, the grand jury found, with the body parts being transplanted in unsuspecting medical patients worldwide. "Despite receiving $1,959 per child from Stevie Wonder, Louis Garzone filed a welfare claim for $750 for each," the grand jury said. During the hearing, the judge asked Hess to describe in her own words the crimes she committed. 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. alleged underlings, three funeral home operators from North Colorado Funeral Home Director Sentenced to 20 Years in Jail for Illegally Selling Body Parts. 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. innocent. 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. Attorney Lynne Abraham said at a news conference. 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. Explore life stories, offer tributes & condolences, send flowers or create a lasting online memorial for loved ones. Hess had been scheduled to go on trial in three weeks along with her mother, Shirley Koch, who also previously pleaded not guilty. 1:59 PM EST, Thu January 5, 2023. Donate your sperm to earn up to $1,500/mo! "He was victimized by the funeral directors. One The empty Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors & Donor Services in Montrose, Colorado. Prosecutors A funeral home in Colorado has been investigated for cutting off body parts from its clients and selling them. According to NBC, Hess is scheduled to be sentenced in January. Philadelphia, Peruto said. He's not a flight risk," Kaufman said shortly after visiting his client last night. "I love Louis.". The two men were expected to surrender to Philadelphia authorities this week. Mar 19, 2020 at 8:17 pm. Mastromarino, 44, remains in New York custody after his guilty (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 . 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 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. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. Mechafanboy said: There's a case in little India a few years back. While the mostly poor families thought their loved ones were being cremated, the bodies were often left unrefrigerated for days, sometimes in alleys beside the funeral home, until a cutter arrived, authorities said. 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. or redistributed. 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.". "Both Louis and Gerald continue to run their businesses, pretty much as they did before," the report said. Mastromarino is already facing charges in New York for allegedly plundering 1,077 bodies, including those from Philadelphia. "He was victimized by the funeral directors. for days, sometimes in alleys beside the funeral home, until a 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. More than 200 Pennsylvanians got tissue that came directly from the Garzone funeral homes, according to the grand jury report. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. Prosecution seeks 12-15 year prison sentence, Colorado funeral home harvested and sold body parts. Published Dec 19, 2008. Some even had rigor mortis, the grand jury said. The body-part industry has been booming, growing from 200,000 transplants in 1989 to 1,200,000 in 2003. 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. Im taking responsibility.. She also offered free cremations in exchange for a body donation. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. 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. 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. "One of the cutters said it was like the back of a butcher shop, it was so dirty," Abraham said. The highest prices . The three Philadelphia suspects were taken into custody and it She has been out on bond since her arrest in 2020. The three men also jointly own Liberty Cremation. authorities said. The transfers were done through Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation and Donor Services, authorities said. Add to Compare. The hoax revelation was first carried by the Ma The defendants conduct was horrific and morbid and driven by greed, US Attorney Cole Finegan said. Megan Hess was . 7047 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19119. All Rights Reserved. Chopped into pieces, thrown into luggage; one of the accomplices chose to dump the luggage in little India. 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. According to a report from the DOJ at the time of the arrests, Hess and Koch's mail scheme included shipping "bodies and body parts that tested positive for, or belonging to people who had died from, infectious diseases, including Hepatitis B and C, and HIV, after certifying to buyers that the remains were disease-free. In Kensington, neighbors defended Louis Garzone. REUTERS/Mike Wood/File Photo. corruption, body stealing and reckless endangerment. 2. Funeral directors Louis Garzone, 65, of Philadelphia; his "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. Mastromarino plans to surrender Tuesday in Philadelphia and will fight the charges, his lawyer said. He has agreed to help locate records for the families and Christian's grandfather was one of the victims at Sunset Mesa Funeral Home. A second Garzone Funeral Home , at 4151 L St., also is charged. She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity . 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. 1,700 counts charged, such as running a criminal enterprise and This story has been shared 102,319 times. together ran Garzone Funeral Home. The black-market sales occurred from at least February 2004 through Megan Hess, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud, sold body parts without families consent in a business she operated with her mother, officials said. Charges also were filed against Louis and Gerald Garzone's funeral homes and the crematorium, but not the McCafferty funeral home. Philadelphia on Friday, but defense lawyer Charles A. Peruto Jr. Those potentially dangerous body parts were sold and transplanted into thousands of patients. 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. Legal Statement. Funeral directors Louis Garzone, 65, of Philadelphia; his younger brother, Gerald Garzone, 47, of North Wales; and James McCafferty, 37, of Philadelphia; were arrested Thursday on thousands of . Instead of cremating the bodies, she harvested heads, spines, arms and legs and then sold them, according to court records. and provide for other medical needs, the 111-page indictment said. By John Shiffman. cannot be certain of her claim because of the lack of records or a 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 . 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. because there are bodies in Pennsylvania," Peruto said. McCafferty, 38, received significantly less time compared to his co-conspirators . at least 244 corpses. DENVER - The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announced today that the operators of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, were sentenced to federal prison for illegally selling body parts or entire bodies without the consent of the family of the deceased. directors were in charge of getting consent. 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. Friday, April 4, 2008. ", 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.".
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