LAKE COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — Silverthorne police arrested Shannon Kent and his wife Staci on Thursday for tampering with a deceased body. Police found a body in a coffin on Tuesday inside a funeral home they no longer own.
The Park County Coroner’s Office confirmed the body found at the former Kent Funeral Home is 42-year-old Victor Akubuo of Southern California. Akubuo died on July 30, 2020 in a single Semi crash in Park County, the coroner’s office said. The Kent Funeral Home was retained by the family in August of 2020.
Both Kent’s were issued $10,000 bonds and have to surrender their passports. A judge ordered that neither are allowed to collect or take possession of bodies in Lake County, which will be an issue since Shannon is the county coroner.
When FOX31 reached out to the district attorney, she said she is going to have to talk with County Commissioners to figure out their next steps.
The Problem Solvers first reported on the Kent’s legal troubles in Nov. 2020 following a search warrant that was caught on body cam.
Lake County deputies found Kent’s Leadville funeral home to be unsanitary including 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.
The latest charges against Kent include a violation of bail bond conditions, but both Shannon and Staci face one count of attempting to tamper with a deceased body.
In December, Kent signed a stipulation with the state of Colorado that forced him to no longer own and operate his six funeral home businesses located in several mountain towns across Colorado.
Kent was indicted by a grand jury in September 2019 for official misconduct after he was accused of allowing his wife to act as a deputy coroner without any certification.
Kent was elected as a Democrat to be Lake County coroner in 2014 and reelected in 2018. His agreement to cease all funeral home operations does not stop him from continuing to serve as the Lake County coroner.