We United States of americaA funeral director has pleaded guilty to illegally selling dead body parts to medical researchers and earning thousands of dollars from doing so.
Megan Hayes, 45, was part of a scandal that, between 2010 and 2018, led grieving relatives to believe that their loved ones were cremated at the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, as reported by The Telegraph was.
According to the Daily Star tabloid, in fact, the ashes found by the people did not belong to their families, as the bodies never went to the crematorium.
The funeral director claimed that a non-profit service, running the scheme allowed him to offer free cremations to low-income families and beat the prices of his competitors.
According to court documents, sometimes the entire body was sold; In others, only the limbs, such as the legs, arms and trunk, or even the head.
The court heard that Hayes allegedly faked donor bodies, demonstrated that he had consented to the procedure through false forms, and tampered with other documents, such as laboratory results.
Reports also revealed that he earned about $40,000 by extracting and selling the gold teeth of the deceased.
“I’ve exceeded the scope of consent and I’m trying to fix that,” Hayes told the United States District Court in Grand Junction, Colorado.
He now faces up to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced in January. However, bereaved families say the director did not express enough remorse for his actions.
“I’d like to hear Ms. Hayes admit what she did instead of the jury convicting her,” Debra Shum said.
Danielle McCarthy, who had her husband’s remains submitted for the scheme, described the crime as “unthinkable”.
Despite this, he considered the confession agreement lenient and accepted it because of his desire to move on.
* Intern R7Under the supervision of Fabiola Paschoal
