Former Colorado funeral home operator gets probation for mixing cremated human remains
FRISCO, Colo. — The former owner of two funeral homes in central Colorado has been sentenced to a year of probation after pleading guilty to charges that her funeral home contained the cremated remains of an adult when it gave the ashes of a stillborn boy to his parents in December 2019.
Staci Kent was also fined $5,000 when she was sentenced earlier this month, the Summit Daily reported.
Kent and her husband, former Lake County Coroner Shannon Kent, were charged with unlawful cremation in connection with their funeral home in Leadville. They also owned a funeral home in Silverthorne.
Staci Kent pleaded guilty to one charge of unlawful cremation, and a second charge was dismissed. She also pleaded guilty to violating the Mortuary Consumer Protection Act. Prosecutors dismissed a charge of abuse of a corpse, as well as a charge of violating a law that outlines how funeral homes must care for bodies.
Shannon Kent pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful cremation in December 2022 and was sentenced to six months in prison in February. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dismissed 12 other charges, including five counts of abuse of a corpse.
The case began when the mother of the stillborn boy contacted police in February 2020 to report that she had received more ashes than could fit in the children's urn they purchased, prosecutors said. A scientific analysis found that the cremated remains the family received included the remains of an infant and an adult, including a piece of earring and surgical staples, indicating that the child may not have been cremated alone, the report said. prosecutors.
When the family confronted Shannon Kent about the amount of ashes, the father said Kent told him the extra material came from the cardboard box or clothing the child had been cremated in, according to court records.
The Leadville case ends with a couple who owned funeral homes in Colorado Springs and Penrose – Jon and Carie Hallford – being charged with failing to cremate nearly 200 bodies over a four-year period and giving fake ashes to some families. The bodies were discovered in early October. The Hallfords are jailed and their bail is set at $2 million each.
Colorado has some of the weakest rules for funeral homes in the country, with no routine inspections or qualification requirements for funeral directors.