TOPEKA, Kan. — A Topeka man convicted of performing illegal autopsies in the Kansas City area, and across Kansas, is banned from doing business in the state.
A jury convicted 42-year-old Shawn Parcells in November related to providing autopsy services in Wabaunsee County. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced later this month.
Parcells lived in both Leawood and Topeka.
The Kansas Attorney General permanently banned Parcells from doing business in the state Wednesday and ordered him to pay $250,000 in restitution.
Parcells’ businesses that operate under the names Parcells Forensic Pathology Group LLC; ParCo-Parcells and Company, LLC; and National Autopsy and Tissue Recovery Services, Inc., were also banned from Kansas.
The corporations were ordered to pay $254,762.98 in restitution to 82 consumers related to private autopsy services. Parcells and the corporations were also ordered to pay a $200,000 penalty for violating the Kansas Consumer Protection Act, as well as a $200,000 penalty for violation of the Kansas False Claims Act related to coroner ordered autopsy services provided to Wabaunsee County, and ordered to pay Wabaunsee County $49,600 in damages. Parcells and the corporations were also ordered to pay $60,000 in investigative and receivership fees.
Schmidt said Parcells agreed to the terms.
Parcells is required to comply with all Kansas statutes that regulate any profession, and is prohibited from using any titles or initials that include professions in the healing arts or any other profession for which he is not educated, certified or qualified.
Schmidt initially filed the case in 2019 alleging Parcells contracted with Wabaunsee County to conduct coroner-ordered autopsies and failed to conduct them in accordance with Kansas law. Additionally, the petition alleged Parcells performed private autopsies without the presence or supervision of a licensed pathologist or otherwise in violation of consumer protection laws.
The state obtained more than 1,700 biological samples collected by Parcells.
The state cataloged and stored the samples. Schmidt said that upon proper and verified request, samples are released to family members who request them. Families interested in requesting samples of loved ones may call the attorney general’s Victim Services Division at (785) 291-3950 for more information.
“It is important to remember that behind all these case details are individuals and family members who have been put in unimaginable circumstances due to Parcells’s conduct,” Schmidt said. “Navigating the loss of a loved one can be difficult enough, but the additional harm created by Shawn Parcells has added to that difficulty. Though the resolution of this case does not undo that harm, our hope is that affected family members can now at least properly grieve.”
