US businessman sells diseased organs to medical educators, gets 9 yrs in jail
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Detroit: A Detroit businessman who sold and leased human body parts was sentenced to nine years in prison Tuesday for selling diseased remains to medical educators.
Arthur Rathburn, 64, is the third and most significant person convicted as part of a national investigation into the largely unregulated market for body parts in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating other so-called body brokers in Illinois, Oregon and Colorado, and has executed search warrants in each of those cases.
During a January trial, an FBI agent testified that Rathburn took little care as he stockpiled body parts in freezers at his Detroit warehouse. The agent said parts from various donors were found "frozen together in flesh-on-flesh chunks."
Among the relatives of those whose bodies were donated to science and ended up in Rathburn's warehouse is Tracy Smolka of Kankakee, Illinois. Her father, Randolph Wright, died in 2010. Three years later, the FBI found her father's head in Rathburn's freezer. Smolka faced Rathburn for the first time Monday, in court.
Arthur Rathburn, 64, is the third and most significant person convicted as part of a national investigation into the largely unregulated market for body parts in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating other so-called body brokers in Illinois, Oregon and Colorado, and has executed search warrants in each of those cases.
Prosecutors said Rathburn earned $13 million from 1997 to 2013 by selling or leasing human remains that had been donated to science.
During a January trial, an FBI agent testified that Rathburn took little care as he stockpiled body parts in freezers at his Detroit warehouse. The agent said parts from various donors were found "frozen together in flesh-on-flesh chunks."
Among the relatives of those whose bodies were donated to science and ended up in Rathburn's warehouse is Tracy Smolka of Kankakee, Illinois. Her father, Randolph Wright, died in 2010. Three years later, the FBI found her father's head in Rathburn's freezer. Smolka faced Rathburn for the first time Monday, in court.
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