GUILTY AZ - FBI found 'bucket of heads, arms and legs,' bodies sewn together, donation facility, Jan 2014

[owsley]

GRAPHIC: FBI found 'bucket of heads, arms and legs,' bodies sewn together at Ariz. body donation facility, agent says

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- Buckets full of body parts, male genitalia in a cooler and heads and bodies of different people sewn together and hung up.

This is new, disturbing evidence in a strange case against the Biological Resource Center in Phoenix.

The body donation and tissue bank facility was raided by the FBI in 2014, as part of a multi-state investigation into the illegal trafficking and sale of human body parts.

“This is a horror story. It’s just unbelievable! This story is unbelievable,” said Troy Harp, who is one of over 30 plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the facility.

For years, Harp has been living a nightmare, after donating his mother and grandmother to Biological Resource Center in 2012 and 2013, with the understanding their bodies would be used for scientific purposes.

“Cancer, and leukemia and whatever else, using sample cells," said Harp. "That’s what I was told."

But that’s not what happened.

The FBI conducted the raid in hazmat suits back in 2014, but for the first time, we’re now able to see the testimony from one of the FBI agents who conducted the raid, and what he recounts is shocking.

He said he found a “cooler filled with male genitalia," "a bucket of heads, arms and legs,” “infected heads” and a small woman's head sewn onto a large male torso "like Frankenstein" hanging up on the wall, one of the most disturbing findings called a “morbid joke” in the lawsuit.

“Who in their right mind,” said Harp. “It’s absolutely gross!”

The lawsuit also says the bodies were cut up with chain saws and band saws and “pools of human blood and bodily fluids were found on the floor of the freezer” with no identification tags on the bodies.

“Tools that are not appropriate for dismembering scientific bodies,” said Harp.

Harp said his mother’s ashes showed up by mail on his doorstep shortly after the raid, but he isn’t sure they’re her ashes.

He said his mom and grandma wanted to help medical research after their death. He doesn’t believe they ever made it out of the BRC building.

The owner, Stephen Gore, pleaded guilty to illegal control of an enterprise, and was sentenced to one year of differed jail time and four years probation.



-- sorry no attached files, not sure how that happened or how to fix --

 

[owsley]

'Cooler filled with male genitalia' found
in raid of Phoenix body-donation company

A head sewn onto a mismatched body, a bucket of limbs and a cooler filled with penises are among items found by FBI agents during a raid on a Phoenix body-donation business.

The now-shuttered, for-profit Biological Resource Center specialized in accepting the bodies of people after they had died, and in exchange offering their families free pickup of the bodies plus the cremated remains of the body parts the company did not sell.

Arizona is a regulatory-free zone for the body-parts industry. At least four body donation companies are operating in Arizona, in addition to a non-profit cryonics company that freezes people after they die with the intent of one day bringing them back to life.

An FBI special agent, during a January 2014 raid of the Biological Resource Center, stumbled on what he described as "various unsettling scenes."

'Frankenstein' head observed
In his declaration contained in the civil lawsuit's court file, former Phoenix FBI special agent Mark Cwynar said he "personally observed various unsettling scenes" while inside Biological Resource Center.

Many of the body parts he saw were piled on top of one another with no apparent identification to indicate what bodies they came from or to whom they belonged, he said.

In addition to a "cooler filled with male genitalia," Cwynar testified that he also saw a "large torso with the head removed and replaced with a smaller head sewn together in a 'Frankenstein' manner."

Cwynar said he saw:

• Large male torsos with limbs and genitalia removed.
• Buckets and coolers with various body parts, including a bucket of heads, arms and legs.
• Body parts piled on top of each other throughout the facility, with no apparent identification.
• Steel freezers with frozen body parts inside with no apparent identification.

Court documents included a report from two experts for the plaintiffs that referred to a 2013 request to use at least two Biological Resource Center bodies for the purpose of "plastination for education." The experts said plastination, which is a way of preserving entire human bodies, should require separate consent because the preservation is more permanent and the bodies are often publicly displayed.

 

[JerseyGirl]

JURY deliberations have entered their fifth day at a trial against the owner of a now-closed Phoenix body donation facility accused of mishandling donated human remains.

Jurors resumed deliberations Tuesday morning in the civil case against Stephen Gore, owner of the Biological Resource Center of Arizona.

Gore is accused of deceiving donor families about how the remains would be used.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...ns-to-resume-at-trial-over-mishandled-remains

 

[Elainera]

OMG how awful!

My mother donated her body to a plastination institute last year. I hope they treated her body with more respect.

 

[JerseyGirl]

The owner of a now-closed body donation facility was found civilly liable Tuesday for mishandling remains in about half of 21 cases filed by families of the dead.

A jury awarded $58 million to 10 of 21 plaintiffs in the case against Stephen Gore, owner of the Biological Resource Center of Arizona. The jury awarded $8 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages. It was not immediately clear why the jury did not rule in favor of 11 of the plaintiffs.

Jury rules for half of 21 plaintiffs in used body parts suit

 

[Elainera]

Same horrific situation discovered in Paris, France at The Centre for Body Donations at Paris-Descartes University.

Bodies 'left to rot' at Paris donation centre

 

[Bit of hope]

Ironic...the name Gore can be associated with the Dutch word goor that means disgusting. That's exactly what this guy is. How horrendously disturbing to find out this has happened to your loved one.