Funeral home operator selling body parts: WHAT??

Colorado funeral home operators accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes have been sentenced to prison time.

U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello sentenced Megan Hess, 46, to 20 years in prison and her mother, Shirley Koch, 69, to 15 years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado said in a news release this week.

While operating Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, Hess and Koch sold remains of the deceased for body broker services without family consent and gave gave families ashes that were not those of their loved ones, prosecutors said.

Both Hess and Koch previously pleaded guilty to one count each of mail fraud and aiding and abetting. According to a plea agreement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said, that "(Hess) and others stole the bodies or body parts of hundreds of victims" from 2010 to 2018.