A man who donated his deceased mother’s body to an Arizona donation center is suing after the FBI raided the company in 2014 and found a disturbing, gruesome scene of body parts hung up, sewn together, or tossed into buckets at the facility.
CBS 11 reports that as part of a human body parts trafficking investigation, agents raided the Biological Resource Center (BRC) in Phoenix, a facility that reportedly promised to use donated bodies for scientific purposes. Now, around 33 people have filed a lawsuit against the BRC, including Troy Harp, who donated the bodies of both his mother and grandmother in 2012 and 2013.
“Cancer, and leukemia and whatever else, using sample cells, that’s what I was told,” Harp said, explaining he was tricked into believing his loved ones’ organs would be donated for the good of science.
Instead, according to the lawsuit, the for-profit facility sold various body parts for hefty prices.
Former Phoenix FBI special agent Mark Cwynart, who participated in the raid, said he found male genitals in coolers, a torso hanging from the wall, a woman’s head sewn onto a man’s body and “a bucket of heads, arms, and legs” inside the facility.
The agent also said he saw bodies with “no apparent identification” stacked on top of each other in steel freezers, and body limbs apparently hacked apart with chainsaws.
The facility landed on the FBI’s radar after the owner, Stephen Gore, was accused of providing customers with “contaminated tissue,” according to court documents. In 2015, Gore pleaded guilty to running the enterprise illegally and admitted his mistakes, but he wrote to a judge that the industry had “no formal regulations” in place.
“I could have been more open about the process of donation on the brochure we put in public view. When deciding which donors could be eligible to donate, I should have hired a medical director rather than relying on medical knowledge from books or the internet.”
Gore reportedly has a high school diploma, but no certifications to operate body donation center.
Family members who donated their loved ones to the facility were shocked to learn that agents found “pools of human blood and bodily fluids” on the floor of the freezer.
According to AZFamily, Harp said he received his mother’s ashes in the mail after the raid, but he’s still not sure if the ashes are actually of his mother.
Harp said he doesn’t feel like there has been any closure and hopes that the lawsuit will help implement strict federal guidelines and regulations for body donation centers.
Meanwhile, Gore received a year of deferred jail time after pleading guilty, followed by four years on probation.
The story continues to develop. Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.
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[Feature Photo: Wiki Commons]
