UCLA Chief of Cadavers Pleads Guilty to Selling Stolen Body Parts
Henry Reid, former chief of the cadaver program at University of California, Los Angeles, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to sell more than $1 million of donated body parts to medical, drug and research companies, the Associated Press reports.
Reid, 58, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court to one count of conspiracy to commit grand theft. Under the agreement, Reid will cooperate in the trial of co-defendant Ernest Nelson and repay $100,000 to $1 million to the university program for the damage or destruction of school property. Reid could also face four years and four months in prison, the AP reported.
“My client accepted responsibility for the mistake he made concerning his activities as director of the Willed Body Program at UCLA and is extremely remorseful about the situation,’’ his lawyer Melvin Sacks is quoted saying.
From 1999 to 2004, Reid sold hundreds of donated body parts to Nelson, who cut up and resold the donated torsos to more than 20 medical, drug and research companies, according to prosecutors. The AP reported that Nelson pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit grand theft, grand theft and grand theft of personal property on the belief he was acting under the university’s authorization.
Reid is scheduled for a sentencing hearing Jan. 30.
