- Sep 26, 2000
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http://www.latimes.com/feature...8oct18,0,5030355.story
Former director of UCLA's Willed Body Program pleads guilty in cadaver scheme
An Anaheim man who is the former director of UCLA's program for bodies donated to research pleaded guilty Friday to his role in a scheme to traffic body parts for profit, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said.
Henry Reid, 58, admitted to conspiring to steal body parts worth more than a million dollars from 1999 to 2004 and handing them over to "body broker" Ernest Nelson, who in turn sold the parts to medical and pharmaceutical research companies
Reid and Nelson were indicted by a grand jury in May. Reid, as a part of his plea agreement, will cooperate with prosecutors in Nelson's trial, district attorney's officials said.
Reid's attorney, Melvyn Sacks, said that his client faced overwhelming proof of guilt and that Reid would be taking responsibility for his actions.
"He made a mistake, and he's going to pay for it and come out all the better for it," Sacks said.
Reid will be sentenced to four years and four months in state prison under the plea agreement, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Marisa Zarate. He will also be ordered to pay restitution to UCLA of between $100,000 and $1 million. If he had been convicted at trial on all three counts, Reid would have faced a maximum of 11 years in prison, Sacks said.
Reid, an embalmer from Anaheim who took over the University's Willed Body Program in 1997, was a poorly paid director who was tempted by his access to valuable body parts that were scarce and in high demand, Zarate told a grand jury earlier this year.
A price list from the program, for example, valued a whole cadaver at $1,000 and a torso at $500, Zarate said.
Trick or tr...aaaarrggghhhhh!
Former director of UCLA's Willed Body Program pleads guilty in cadaver scheme
An Anaheim man who is the former director of UCLA's program for bodies donated to research pleaded guilty Friday to his role in a scheme to traffic body parts for profit, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said.
Henry Reid, 58, admitted to conspiring to steal body parts worth more than a million dollars from 1999 to 2004 and handing them over to "body broker" Ernest Nelson, who in turn sold the parts to medical and pharmaceutical research companies
Reid and Nelson were indicted by a grand jury in May. Reid, as a part of his plea agreement, will cooperate with prosecutors in Nelson's trial, district attorney's officials said.
Reid's attorney, Melvyn Sacks, said that his client faced overwhelming proof of guilt and that Reid would be taking responsibility for his actions.
"He made a mistake, and he's going to pay for it and come out all the better for it," Sacks said.
Reid will be sentenced to four years and four months in state prison under the plea agreement, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Marisa Zarate. He will also be ordered to pay restitution to UCLA of between $100,000 and $1 million. If he had been convicted at trial on all three counts, Reid would have faced a maximum of 11 years in prison, Sacks said.
Reid, an embalmer from Anaheim who took over the University's Willed Body Program in 1997, was a poorly paid director who was tempted by his access to valuable body parts that were scarce and in high demand, Zarate told a grand jury earlier this year.
A price list from the program, for example, valued a whole cadaver at $1,000 and a torso at $500, Zarate said.
Trick or tr...aaaarrggghhhhh!
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