by Dan Margolies, Kansas News Service
A Leawood man who held himself out as a pathologist but has no medical degree was indicted Wednesday on 10 counts of federal wire fraud.
The indictment accuses Shawn Lynn Parcells, 41, of misleading clients into believing they would receive autopsy reports prepared by a pathologist when no pathologist was involved.
Parcells, who was accused earlier this month by the Kansas Attorney General’s office of duping at least 82 consumers, worked as a pathologist’s assistant in the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office from 1996 to 2003, according to the indictment. He did not have certification as a pathologist’s assistant.
Parcells gained notoriety in 2014 when he made numerous appearances on cable news as a supposed expert in the investigation of the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
He faces up to 20 years in prison and maximum fines of $250,000 on each of the wire fraud charges. The government is also seeking to recover more than $1 million in fees that at least 375 clients paid him over a three-year period from 2016 through 2019.
Through his business, National Autopsy Services in Topeka, Kansas, Parcells charged clients $3,000 up front plus expenses for pathological studies to determine the cause of death of clients’ next of kin, according to the indictment.
Parcells allegedly convinced prospective clients through his website that National Autopsy Services had office locations throughout the United States and some international locations, “giving the impression that NAS was a large business operation when in fact the defendant operated only one morgue facility and a ‘Corporate Office’ in Topeka,” the indictment states.
Court records show Parcells is represented by attorney Eric Kjorlie in Topeka. Kjorlie did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Parcells attended Kansas State University. In 2014, he told the Washington Post that he learned how to do autopsies from “on-the-job-training” watching pathologists and assisting them.
A CNN investigation in 2013 revealed that he did not have a medical degree and had exaggerated other credentials.
He continued to call himself a “professor” and advertise “pathophysiology” and “forensic” services as recently as this year, according to a restraining order filed by the Kansas Attorney General’s office.
Parcells is also awaiting trial in Wabaunsee County on three felony counts of theft and three misdemeanor counts of criminal desecration.
In addition, he faces a civil suit by the Kansas Attorney General alleging he had a contract in Wabaunsee County to conduct coroner-ordered autopsies but failed to complete them in accordance with Kansas law.
Dan Margolies is senior reporter and editor at KCUR. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanMargolies. The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on the health and well-being of Kansans, their communities and civic life.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org
See more at https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-11-19/leawood-man-who-ran-autopsies-for-hire-business-indicted-for-fraud.