Posted on 12/03/2020 6:56:38 AM PST by real saxophonist
State Bans Coroner Shannon Kent From Private Business After Remains, Waste Found At Home-Based Colorado Funeral Home
By Logan Smith
December 3, 2020
DENVER (CBS4) – Lake County Coroner Shannon Kent was permanently stripped of his ability to legally conduct cremation or funeral home services in the state, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies announced Tuesday.
The ban takes effect immediately.
Kent owned in whole or in part crematories and funeral homes in Leadville, Gypsum, Silverthorne, Buena Vista, and Idaho Springs while doubling as the publicly elected coroner of Lake County. He still retains that office.
Kent’s license to operate two of the Western Slope businesses were suspended by the state in October after Lake County authorities conducted an unannounced visit on his home-based funeral home in Leadville.
In the basement of the Kent family residence, investigators found an unrefrigerated body, mounds of used medical gloves and body bags, and tilting stacks of paperwork.
Lake County Sheriff Amy Reyes described losing her footing due to pools of body fluid on the floor. She and a sergeant cut the initial foray through the basement short due to the smell of decay and concerns for their health.
“I was beginning to feel sick, weak, light-headed,” Sheriff Reyes wrote in a report. “I ended the search.”
Reyes included hand-written notes next to photos taken during the investigation.
The visit was part of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office investigation into alleged improper documentation and suspicious elements in a set of cremated remains. An unidentified woman filed a complaint with the department in February regarding the mishandling of a child’s remains. Testing revealed the infant’s cremated remains contained a mixture of metal and the body of an adult.
No criminal charges were filed as a result of the investigation.
The affected businesses are Bailey-Kent Funeral Home in Leadville, the Everett Family Funeral Home and Crematory (also doing business as Kent Funeral Home) in Gypsum, Runyan Mortuary in Buena Vista, Runyan-Kent Mortuary in Silverthorne, and Hegmann Funeral Service, Inc. (dba Hegmann-Kent) in Idaho Springs.
Kent was elected Lake County Coroner in 2014 and re-elected in 2018.
Kent came under scrutiny in a separate case in March 2019. He was indicted for using his wife as a deputy coroner despite a her lack of certification.
To make the story even weirder, I then interviewed with the manager of the funeral home. She flat out told me she was going to hire a woman for that position. (Well, why the hell are you interviewing me?)
She was killed in a car accident a couple of years later.
Pictures and video at the source.
Had a similar thing in my town maybe 2p years ago. It was discovered by local authorities an undertaker here had bodies stacked up in a closet and other places in the funeral home. IIRC he had a contract with the city to embalm and bury the indigent. So to increase profit he just skipped the burial part and pocketed the money.
One more reason the Bible is so clear on and warns of what money is.
There was a similar case in Georgia back about 20 years ago or so.............
Denver again. That place is becoming the heart of darkness.
Actually, it warns what the love of money is.
Good lord, could you imagine losing your child and then having no idea where their remains are or what the funeral parlor did with them?
The Bible warns of the LOVE of money. Money is, of and by itself, merely a tool. Nothing ‘evil’ about it.
Exactly! Any amount of money rightfully earned and put to good uses is most praiseworthy.
I wonder how many unannounced visits by authorities have been done on abortion facilities?
Anywhere?
Anytime?
At least these folks back in the mountains care about the deceased.
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