May 18, 2009

Middleman Convicted in UCLA Body Parts Case

LOS ANGELES – The middleman in the unauthorized sale of body parts-for-profit scheme from UCLA’s Willed Body program was convicted today of conspiracy, grand theft and filing false tax returns.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury of six men and six women deliberated a little more than one day before finding Ernest Nelson, 51, guilty of all eight counts. The jury also found true the special allegation that the felonies were part of a pattern of fraud and embezzlement that exceeded $500,000.

Nelson owned and operated Empire Anatomical Co., which sold cadavers and human body parts to private companies for medical research. The jury found that between May 1999 and February 2004, he and co-defendant Henry Reid, the former director of UCLA’s Willed Body Program, conspired to sell bodies donated to the UCLA program for research for their personal financial gain.

Deputy District Attorneys Marisa Zarate and Eugene Hanrahan of the Major Fraud Division said in addition to operating an illegal profit-for-parts operation, Nelson put the lives of doctors and researchers in danger because he provided false serology reports on the cadavers he got from UCLA that would have ensured the human body parts were free of disease.

Reid, who earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to more than four years in state prison, admitted selling human body parts to Nelson and depositing the funds to his personal bank account. Nelson, in turn, sold human cadavers and body parts from the UCLA program to more than 20 private firms for more than $1 million. Prosecutors will be seeking $1.5 million in restitution to UCLA.

The jury found the pair conspired to hide the scheme by creating bogus forms to give the appearance that Nelson had authority to receive body parts from the Willed Body Program. And when a California Department of Health Services agent began in investigation, Nelson denied he was involved.

Nelson was convicted of one count each of conspiracy to commit grand theft, grand theft and grand theft of personal property. In addition, he was convicted of four counts of filing false California tax returns between 1999 and 2003 and one count of failure to file a tax return in 2004.

The Rancho Cucamonga resident returns June 12 for sentencing by Judge Curtis Rappe. He faces up to 12 years in state prison.

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For more information on federal criminal defense law, contact the Law Offices of Joseph Shemaria of Los Angeles, California.