When you hand over the body of a loved one to a funeral parlor, you trust that the workers won’t scour the remains for valuables to make a quick buck. But things apparently didn’t work out that way in a Denver-area funeral home, where a freelance embalmer was indicted for swiping gold teeth from remains and pawning them.

The Longmont Times-Call reports multiple pawn brokers thought it was “creepy” and “weird” that the same dude was showing up again and again with gold crowns to pawn, so they tipped off the authorities. The man, who told pawn shops that he was selling the teeth because they’d normally just be thrown away — and that the money would benefit “children in need” — faces accusations including eight counts of providing false information to a pawn broker. The suspect’s wife says her teeth-hocking husband actually used the proceeds to help pay the bills.

For what it’s worth, the man says he never removed the teeth directly from a body. Authorities said funeral companies should recycle or trash such items. Which means that if your deceased loved one has gold teeth and you don’t want them thrown away or recycled, you should let the company know.

Longmont police arrest Brighton man suspected of selling dental gold taken from dead [Longmont Times-Call via Latest Word]

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