Man Admits Stealing Brain Tissue from Museum

A man who sold brain tissue to a San Diego resident has admitted stealing the human brain samples and other tissue from a medical museum.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that 21-year-old David Charles pleaded guilty to burglary and was sentenced to four years in jail, with three years suspended.

Charles was arrested in December 2013 after a San Diego man who purchased about six jars of brain tissue on eBay for $600 alerted authorities.

The tissue had been stolen from the Indiana Medical History Museum in Indianapolis, where a piece of paper had a bloody fingerprint matching Charles.

The museum's director said at the time of the theft that the tissue came from autopsies conducted between the 1890s and 1940s.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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