A 42 year old Kansas man, who admitted providing illegal private autopsy services, has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison. Shawn Parcells was sentenced Monday, September 19, to five years andnone months for one count of wire fraud. Parcells plead guilty in May. As part of the plea agreement, nine other wire fraud charges were dropped.
Federal Prosecutors say Parcells persuaded a client to pay him $5,000 for an autopsy, which he was not qualified to perform. Prosecutors say Parcells collected more than $1.1 million from more that 350 clients for autopsies, many of which he didn’t perform.
In 2014, Parcells assisted a privately hired pathologist in an autopsy of Michael Brown, the unarmed black 18 year old from Ferguson, Missouri who was fatally shot by a white police officer.
