Unauthorized Kansas autopsy provider found guilty of illegally handling human remains
A Leawood man who ran a successful business providing private autopsy services has been found guilty of six criminal charges related to the illegal handling of bodies.
Shawn Parcells, 42, was convicted after a three-day trial in Wabaunsee County that was prosecuted by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office. The charges were three misdemeanor counts of criminal desecration and three felony counts of theft. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 10.
Parcells, a self-taught pathology assistant with no formal education, was found to have unlawfully received money from Wabaunsee County to perform coroner-ordered autopsies in three cases. He also was found to have performed autopsies on three occasions without a licensed pathologist present, which is illegal.
The alleged crimes took place between 2014 and 2015. He also faces federal criminal accusations and a civil action in state court.
In the civil matter, the Kansas attorney general filed a complaint against Parcells alleging violations of the state’s false claims and consumer protection acts. It contends a contract with Wabaunsee County for Parcells to perform unsupervised autopsies violated those provisions.
Over the past two years, prosecutors discovered that Parcells collected more than 1,600 biological samples, mostly human tissue. Those were placed into the custody of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment by court order in November 2019.
The state cataloged and stored the samples, and those are being released to family members upon a verified request from the state.
Parcells has been banned from conducting autopsies, forensic pathology and tissue recovery under a court order issued more than two years ago by a Shawnee County judge. That temporary ban, which remains in effect, was set pending the outcome of the cases against him.
Parcells previously worked as an assistant in the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office from 1996 to 2003 before starting his own pathology business, National Autopsy Services, LLC, which was incorporated in Kansas in 2016. That business has come under federal scrutiny in recent months.
Last year, Parcells was indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud in the U.S. District of Kansas. Federal prosecutors alleged Parcells made more than $1.1 million charging clients for full autopsy reports despite lacking the qualifications to do the work and, in many cases, failing to ever provide the final reports.
Between 2016 and 2019, Parcells allegedly received fees from 375 clients to perform autopsies. Prosecutors said Parcells told clients their cases would be handled by a pathologist and included the name of a licensed pathologist on reports given to families.
But no licensed pathologist worked on any of the cases, according to prosecutors. The federal government is seeking a recovery of $1 million in that case.
The Star’s Luke Nozicka and Katie Bernard contributed to this report.
