One Western Slope state legislator is asking the U.S District Court to impose the maximum penalty in the “body brokering” case against Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors in Montrose.
Hundreds of Colorado families were impacted by the federal crime that forced legislators to change state law.
The five year old case against owners Megan Hess and Shirley Koch is coming to an end with sentencing scheduled for January 3rd.
Hess and Koch plead guilty to one count of federal mail fraud, avoiding a public trial in Grand Junction.
State Representative Matt Soper from Delta says this is the largest body snatching case in US history.
"It included over 800 dead bodies that were either chopped up and sold in pieces or whole, to foreign countries or foreign militaries," he said.
Soper, who represents House District 54, says hundreds of victims have expressed how the crimes committed at the Montrose funeral are like “a second death to them.”
Many will never know what happened to their loved one’s remains, and the magnitude and gravity of the case on the Western Slope spurred legislators like Soper into action.
Now in the state of Colorado licensing for a funeral home must be separate from licensing of anatomical or donation agencies.
In the case of Sunset Mesa, Hess and Koch simultaneously operated their mortuary and donor services in the same building.
Soper led the way to making the abuse of a corpse a Class 6 felony in Colorado.
Prior to Sunset Mesa it was a misdemeanor.
Had the felony law been in place, Hess and Koch could have faced upwards of 80 years in prison if convicted.
Colorado legislators also made it unlawful for a person to own more than a 10% direct or indirect interest in a funeral establishment or crematory while simultaneously owning more than a 10% direct or indirect interest in a non-transplant tissue bank.
More recently Soper, a Republican, teamed up with Representative Dylan Roberts, a Democrat, to make sure that the Department of Regulatory Affairs or DORA can inspect a mortuary upon request or following a complaint.
"Five times state regulators showed up and five times they were told 'no you can't come on our property,' but if they had been a restaurant or a hairdresser or any other regulated business, they wouldn't have been able to refuse a DORA investigation,” said Soper.
Because the Sunset Mesa case involved a raid and investigation by the FBI, Soper is advocating making the abuse of a corpse a felony under federal law.
Following the crimes committed at Sunset Mesa, many West Slope families have made unusual requests of funeral homes and cremation providers.
“I was at a funeral recently, and the family wanted the full casket opened up to make sure it was their loved one in full, before being closed and lowered into the grave and buried. And that would not have happened before the Sunset Mesa atrocity," said Soper.
Despite the Montrose case involving the dismemberment of bodies, selling body parts or whole bodies to “body brokers,” the case falls under the “catch all” of federal mail fraud says Soper.
“It’s used often kind of like tax evasion to go after very bad actors in society when there's a lacking in say federal criminal law, or where state law wouldn't have imposed a stiffer penalty," he said.
No matter where the Sunset Mesa crimes land under the law, Soper maintains a strong stance on gaining the maximum 20 year penalty for Hess and Koch this January.
"I just feel so strongly that 20 years should be the maximum just because the gravity of the crimes committed, the number of victims involved," he said.
This story from KVNFwas shared with Aspen Public Radio via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico including Aspen Public Radio.
