The former director of UCLA’s Willed Body Program and his associate pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges relating to allegations of the sale of donated human body parts from the university.
Henry Reid, who headed the program from May 1997 to March 2004, and Ernest Nelson, the owner of Empire Anatomical Co., were charged in March 2007, three years after initial allegations were made following a university police investigation.
Reid, 58, of Anaheim, and Nelson, 50, of Rancho Cucamonga, pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court to single counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, grand theft and grand theft of personal property.
The allegations state that from 1999 to 2004, Reid gave body parts to Nelson and used his position to authorize the actions. Nelson, in turn, allegedly sold those parts to private medical, pharmaceutical and hospital research companies.
Nelson had written various checks to Reid during that time, ranging from $5,000 to $9,000, which Reid deposited into his personal checking account.
The indictment states, “As a result, Ernest Nelson was able to supply over 20 of his clients with hundreds of body parts and received over $1 million for the supplied body parts.”
Nelson also pleaded not guilty to four counts of filing false income tax returns and one count of failing to file an income tax return.
While the district attorney’s office originally brought charges against Reid and Nelson in March 2007, prosecutors said they chose to go to the grand jury, after defense attorneys postponed the case for more than a year.
“This case is a significant matter to many people, and it’s very serious, and it has been continued to the detriment of many witnesses for over a year,” said Deputy District Attorney Marisa Zarate.
If there had been a preliminary hearing, a judge would have heard testimony from both sides to determine whether there was enough evidence needed to go to trial.
“The D.A. took the chicken way out by not having a preliminary hearing and going to the grand jury,” Reid’s attorney, Melvyn Sacks, said outside court. “You can get a grand jury to do anything.”
Both men have posted bail, and the case is expected to go to trial 90 days after the bail hearing, Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza said.
Since news broke of the allegations in 2004, the program and the scandal around it have garnered attention from around the world and resulted in university officials shutting down the program, according to Daily Bruin archives.
The program was suspended until October 2005.
The David Geffen School of Medicine appointed Dean Fisher, the former director of anatomical bequests to the Department of Anatomy for the Mayo Clinic, to be the new permanent director of the program in April 2008, replacing interim director Brandi Schmitt of the University of California Office of the President.
According to a press release, 377 people have registered to will their bodies and 263 donations have been received since the program reopened.
With reports from Bruin wire services.