There's crime, there's weird crime, there's weird gross crime, and then there's this:
The Montrose funeral home owner who pleaded guilty to a charge related to selling body parts was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a judge today. Megan Hess received the maximum sentence. Her mother, Shirley Koch, was sentenced to 15 years for her role. ...
Hess, 48, and Koch, 69, were arrested in March 2020. Each was charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials. They faced up to 20 years in federal prison for each count for mail fraud and five years per illegal transportation count. They also face a fine up to $250,000 per count.
It's apparently not a crime to fraudulently dismember a body without informing family members, but you can still nab these people on mail fraud charges.
In any event, it's clear the two perps actually got off easy: They could've each been hit with 135 years in the slammer.
And honestly, I'm not so sure it wouldn't be warranted:
According to the federal indictment from the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Colorado, Hess and Koch would not follow family wishes, and neither discussed nor obtained authorization for Donor Services to transfer descendants' body parts to third parties.
Hess and Koch offered to cremate bodies and provide the remains to families for $1,000 or more. Many of those cremations didn't occur.
They would instead sell remains of the deceased and deliver fake cremains to their loved ones. They would also ship bodies and body parts that tested positive for infectious diseases after certifying that the remains were disease free.
The emotional toll that this disgusting criminal enterprise took on family members is very evident:
Joy Christian of Aspen came with her mother, Ann Holland. Joy's father and Ann's husband, Michael Holland, had his body dismembered without their consent. Joy said she felt "happy and drained" after the verdict. She also said Hess and Koch didn't show any real remorse.
"No, no. I think her mom tried," Christian said. "But I think the remorse that Megan (Hess) had was for herself and for her daughter, not for us."
"I did not feel any remorse from either one of them," she said. "I'm a Christian and I believe in forgiveness and I was willing to give that to them in the courthouse. But I won't forget, it's been a terrible, terrible trauma to our entire family."
Holland called "Mickey," her husband, "a real special guy." They had been married since she was 19 and he was 18.
