GEORGETOWN, Colo. (KDVR) — The former Lake County coroner and his wife have been acquitted of criminal charges after a body was left in their funeral home for months.

Shannon and Staci Kent, of Leadville, were charged with attempted tampering with a deceased human body and abuse of a corpse, both felonies. A Clear Creek County jury on Tuesday found them not guilty of the charges.

“While we hoped for a different outcome today, we respect the jury’s decision in this case,” Assistant District Attorney Joe Kirwan said in a news release.

The Kents were arrested on Feb. 18, 2021, two days after law enforcement searched the Kent-Bailey Funeral Home and found the remains of a man. He had died in a semi-truck crash in Park County more than seven months earlier.

Victor Akubuo, a 42-year-old truck driver from California who was originally from Nigeria, died in the crash on July 30, 2020. His family retained the services of the funeral home shortly after.

Amid mounting legal troubles, the Kents surrendered their license to operate funeral services on Dec. 1, 2020. Two months later, law enforcement found Akubuo’s body in a coffin in the funeral home, formerly owned by Shannon Kent.

Shannon Kent resigned from his role as coroner in May 2021.

Former Lake County coroner faced list of accusations

It’s not the only criminal case involving the former county coroner. A jury found Shannon Kent guilty of official misconduct on Sept. 10, 2021.

Kent was also accused of letting his wife, Staci Kent, handle death investigations as a deputy coroner, even though she was never legally sworn in or appointed to the position and was thus unauthorized to do so.

Lake County deputies found Kent’s Leadville funeral home to be unsanitary, including finding a newborn body among other bodies without identifying paperwork. Officers also found one body that was not properly refrigerated.

In a separate incident, Kent is accused of mixing an infant’s ashes with remains from another body.