Kansas man sentenced for performing illegal autopsies

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — 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 to five years and nine months for one count of wire fraud. Parcells pleaded guilty in May. As part of the plea agreement, nine other wire fraud charges were dropped. Federal prosecutors said 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 than 350 clients for autopsies, many of which he didn’t perform. Parcells in 2014 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.