US college official sold parts from 496 corpses

A UCLA medical school official who cut up and sold pieces of 496 corpses for $704,600 over a period of six years, says he did so with the knowledge of college officials.

Ernest V. Nelson, 46, arrested for allegedly stealing body parts from the University of California, Los Angeles, medical school, says he cut up hundreds of corpses and sold the pieces to large research corporations.

The university's lawyer dismissed the allegation of university complicity as "ridiculous."

Nelson was arrested by University of California police for investigation of receiving known stolen property with a value of more than $400. A UCLA statement said Nelson, who was released from jail after posting $30,000 bail, was not a university employee.

Authorities would say little about the case, but Nelson told the Los Angeles Times that for six years he retrieved body parts from the UCLA Medical School's freezer and sold them to large research companies.

He said he did so with the knowledge of UCLA employees, including Henry Reid, director of the school's cadaver programme.

Reid, 54, was released from jail after posting $20,000 bail and has declined to comment.

"I call one of the most prestigious universities in the world, their director gives me the protocol, I follow that protocol and they charge me with receiving stolen body parts?" Nelson was quoted as saying in the Times.

Nelson added he collected the body parts by simply walking into the UCLA Medical Center twice a week with a saw and taking them. Over the past six years, he said, he cut up approximately 800 cadavers and took knees, hands, torsos, heads and other parts, which he sold to as many as 100 other research labs.

"If I wasn't supposed to be there, why couldn't they tell me that?" Nelson asked. "It was not done in secret."

UCLA attorney Louis Marlin denied that the university knew what Nelson was doing. He said Nelson paid for the parts he took with cashier's checks made out to Reid.

"For Nelson to say other people knew what he was doing is ridiculous," Marlin said, adding those involved were hiding their activity from UCLA.

One other UCLA employee who is believed to have accepted money for body parts has been placed on leave, but has not been identified or arrested. Marlin said Nelson himself brought the situation to light when he filed a claim against the university for $241,000 for body parts he said he paid for and was then ordered to return. That prompted an investigation.