Men plead not guilty in cadaver case
By Sara Taylor
March 11, 2007 9:58 p.m.
Two men accused of running a body-parts-for-profit scheme out of the UCLA Willed Body Program pleaded not guilty Friday, after being charged and arrested two days earlier.
Henry Reid, the former director of the program, and his associate Ernest Nelson, who at the time was the owner of Empire Anatomical Co., allegedly trafficked body parts donated to UCLA for research, making more than $1 million in profits between 1999 and 2004, when the scheme became public.
Reid allegedly gave hundreds of body parts to Nelson, who sold them to private medical, pharmaceutical and hospital research companies.
The two are also accused of forging documents giving Nelson the right to receive bodies from the program. Reid is charged with grand theft and conspiracy; Nelson is charged with grand theft, conspiracy and tax evasion.
The two are being held at $1 million bail each, pending bail hearings scheduled for this week. Reid’s hearing is planned for today and Nelson’s is scheduled for Thursday, according to the district attorney’s office.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, said the trial could take several months or a year. She said Reid faces up to five years and eight months in prison and Nelson faces up to seven years and eight months.
The charges come three years after the scandal surfaced in March 2004, prompting an investigation by university police and causing the program to be closed for more than a year. The program reopened in October 2005 with new security procedures in place and has continued to receive donations, according to a statement from UCLA.
With reports from Bruin wire services.
