March 6, 2007

Two Arrested, Charged in UCLA Willed-Body Case

LOS ANGELES – The former director of UCLA’s Willed Body Program and an associate were arrested today on a felony complaint for arrest warrant charging them with conspiracy and grand theft for allegedly running a body-parts-for-profit scheme over several years, the District Attorney’s office announced.

Henry Reid, who was hired in May 1997 as director of UCLA’s Willed Body Program, was arrested this morning at his home in Anaheim. Ernest Nelson, who owned and operated Empire Anatomical Co., was arrested at his home in Rancho Cucamonga, said Deputy District Attorney Marisa Zarate with the Major Fraud Division, who is prosecuting the case. Both men were arrested by UCLA police, who conducted the investigation.

Reid and Nelson are charged in case No. BA317847 with one count each of conspiracy with the special allegations that the loss was more than $150,000.

In addition, Reid, 57, is charged with one count of grand theft by embezzlement and one count of grand theft.

In addition to conspiracy, Nelson, 49, is charged with one count of grand theft and three counts each of tax evasion.

According to the complaint, between May 7, 1999 and Feb. 26, 2004, Reid and Nelson conspired to defraud UCLA’s Willed Body Program of its donor bodies for personal financial gain. Reid allegedly sold human body parts from UCLA’s program to Nelson and deposited thousands of dollars into his personal bank account. In turn, Nelson allegedly made more than $1 million by selling the human cadavers and body parts supplied by Reid to more than 20 private medical, pharmaceutical and hospital research companies.

The complaint alleges in overt acts that 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 allegedly denied he was involved.

Nelson also allegedly provided false serology reports for the human body parts he got from UCLA and that he delivered to a San Diego medical research company.

The scheme allegedly began to unravel in the spring of 2003 when Reid asked Nelson to return body parts he still had. In November 2003, Nelson notified UCLA that he was going to sue for more than $241,000, alleging that Reid owed him money for the human body parts he returned.

The complaint also charges Nelson with underreporting his income for 2001 and 2002 and failing to file a state tax return in 2003.

Both men are being held on $1 million bail each. They are scheduled to be arraigned later this week at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center, Division 30.