Henry Reid, the former director of UCLA’s willed body program, pleaded guilty today after a years-long investigations of a body-for-parts profit scheme.
Reid pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit grand theft, said Nancy Greenstein, a university police spokeswoman.
He was hired in May 1997 as the director of UCLA’s willed body program, and from May 1999 to February 2004, he allegedly sold body parts to another defendant in the case, businessman Ernest Nelson, she said.
The two conspired to defraud UCLA of its donor bodies for financial gain, according to a statement by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office.
Both individuals share one count of conspiracy to commit grand theft. In addition, Reid and Nelson each received one count of grand theft of personal property allegedly worth more than $1 million, according to the statement.
In addition, Reid agreed to cooperate in Nelson’s future case after pleading guilty today.
The statement also said Reid also must pay a restitution amount between $100,000 and $1 million to UCLA’s willed body program. A judge will make the final decision on the amount.
The body parts were allegedly sold to “more than 20 private, medical, pharmaceutical and hospital research companies,” according to the statement.
Reid, a 58-year old Anaheim resident, will be sentenced to four years, four months in state prison, Greenstein said.
She said UCPD investigated the case along with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, District Attorney’s Office and the FBI, and the case took a long time to sort out because of the large amount of complicated evidence.
UCLA’s willed body program was founded in 1950 and was the first in the nation, according to Daily Bruin archives. It receives around 175 bodies each year, and 11,000 people are typically willing to provide their bodies for research.
But despite the program’s prestige, speculation has surrounded it because of ethical and legal accusations.
The willed body program was first investigated in 1993 when a medical waste container holding a combination of ashes and other hospital materials broke apart in the Santa Monica Bay, according to the archives.
Reid was previously thought to have cleaned up the program after accepting his position as director.
But now it seems that Reid is only perpetuating further speculation of unethical and illegal practices.
According to the statement, Nelson’s trial date has not been set. Reid is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 30, 2009.