A recent news item had me scratching my head in wonder. Here was a supposedly above board place one could send a dearly departed for the furtherance of science and to help others that turned out to be a chaotic and perverse collection of body parts, the likes that could hardly be imagined. I mean, this sounds as gruesome as any horror film. Buckets of heads, arms and legs? A cooler filled with male genitalia? Blechhhh!
It all sounds like it could be just careless handling -- until you come across the part of the woman's head sewed onto a male torso. And one poor soul found out that his mother's body had been sold to the military for "blast testing".
And all the demented owner of this Frankenstein's Lab could say in his defense was, "I guess I should have hired a Medical Director instead of relying on books or the internet." Do ya think?
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| FBI agents carry out bags of body parts from the Biological Resource Center in Arizona. |
By Ebony Bowden July 25, 2019 | 5:30pm | Updated
The stomach-churning scene was discovered by FBI agents at the now-shuttered Biological Resource Center in 2014 as part of a multi-state investigation into the illegal trafficking and sale of human body parts, as reported by the Arizona Republic.
Details of the grim find were revealed in a lawsuit filed against the center this week by 33 defendants whose loved ones’ bodies were donated to the facility under the guise they would be used for scientific purposes.
In his declaration in the civil suit, former FBI special agent Mark Cwynar described the “various unsettling scenes” that awaited cops, including “a bucket of heads, arms and legs” and “a cooler filled with male genitalia.”
Agents also found “infected heads,” a small woman’s head sewn onto a large male torso and hanging on a wall “like Frankenstein,” and body parts stacked on top of one another with no identification tags.
Biological Resource Center specialized in the free pickup of deceased loved ones for families in exchange for their bodies, to be used for scientific research.
Instead, the company sold body parts to various middlemen for profit.
A 2013 price list included in the civil court filing indicates a whole boy with no shoulders or head could be purchased for $2,900 while a whole spine retailed for $950.
In 2015, Gore tearfully pleaded guilty to conducting an illegal business after accusations he used body parts in ways that donors had not permitted.
He was sentenced to one year of deferred jail time, four years probation and was ordered to pay $121,000 in restitution.
Plaintiffs say their deceased loved ones were not treated with respect and claim they were misled by the company into believing their bodies would be used for disease research and organ donation.
In 2017, Arizona passed a law that said body donation companies are not allowed to operate without a license — but it has not yet been implemented.
The case is set for trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on Oct. 21.
[SOURCE: NY Post.]
'Cooler filled with male genitalia' found in raid of Phoenix body-donation company
Stephanie Innes, Arizona Republic Published 9:00 a.m. MT July 19, 2019 | Updated 1:45 p.m. MT July 19, 2019
The now-shuttered, for-profit Biological Resource Center specialized in accepting the bodies of people after they had died, and in exchange offering their families free pickup of the bodies plus the cremated remains of the body parts the company did not sell.
Arizona is a regulatory-free zone for the body-parts industry. At least four body donation companies are operating in Arizona, in addition to a non-profit cryonics company that freezes people after they die with the intent of one day bringing them back to life.
An FBI special agent, during a January 2014 raid of the Biological Resource Center, stumbled on what he described as "various unsettling scenes." The agent's grisly eyewitness account of the raid was recently revealed in a civil lawsuit against the business and its owner, Stephen Gore. The case is set for trial Oct. 21 in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Thirty-three plaintiffs have sued the Biological Resource Center, saying the remains of their family members were obtained through "false statements," that body parts were being sold for profit to various middlemen, and that they were not stored, treated or disposed of with dignity or respect.
Reacting to the Biological Resource Center case, Arizona passed a law in 2017 that says body donation companies are not allowed without a state license. However, the law has not yet been implemented or enforced.
All four body donation companies known to be operating in Arizona are accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks, which the Biological Resource Center was not.
The Phoenix company was raided after a nationwide criminal investigation.
Efforts to reach Gore, who is listed in court filings as representing himself in the civil action, were unsuccessful.
'Frankenstein' head observed
In his declaration contained in the civil lawsuit's court file, former Phoenix FBI special agent Mark Cwynar said he "personally observed various unsettling scenes" while inside Biological Resource Center.
Many of the body parts he saw were piled on top of one another with no apparent identification to indicate what bodies they came from or to whom they belonged, he said.
In addition to a "cooler filled with male genitalia," Cwynar testified that he also saw a "large torso with the head removed and replaced with a smaller head sewn together in a 'Frankenstein' manner."
Cwynar said he saw:
- Large male torsos with limbs and genitalia removed.
- Buckets and coolers with various body parts, including a bucket of heads, arms and legs.
- Body parts piled on top of each other throughout the facility, with no apparent identification.
- Steel freezers with frozen body parts inside with no apparent identification.
In October 2015, Gore tearfully pleaded guilty to conducting an illegal enterprise after accusations that he had provided vendors with contaminated human tissue and used body parts in ways that the donors had not permitted.
In a letter to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Warren Granville before his December 2015 sentencing, Gore wrote that he felt overwhelmed, but that he was working in an industry with "no formal regulations" to reference for guidance.
"I could have been more open about the process of donation on the brochure we put in public view," Gore wrote. "When deciding which donors could be eligible to donate, I should have hired a medical director rather than relying on medical knowledge from books or the internet."
Research by plaintiffs' lawyers says Gore's highest level of education was high school, and that he did not have any licenses or certifications applicable to body donation program operations.
Torso with head: $2,400
The Biological Resource Center was a for-profit body donation company that accepted donations of bodies after people died. The company gave donors and their families free transportation services to pick up the body, plus free cremation.
One of the problems is that some families thought that a body "donation" meant their loved ones' bodies were being given to a charity to help with disease research. Some mistakenly thought the Biological Resource Center would be donating their loved ones' organs, not knowing that organ donation and body donation are not the same thing.
Not all were aware the Biological Resource Center often dismembered and sold various body parts.
A 2013 price list that is part of the court file indicates sale prices for body parts:
- Whole body with no shoulders or head: $2,900.
- Torso with head: $2,400.
- Whole spine: $950.
- Whole leg: $1,100.
- Whole foot: $450.
- Knee: $375.
- Pelvis: $400.
2 comments:
Wow !! interesting read... wishing you and yours well
It is indeed a weird, weird world, Good Doctor!
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