Thief Steals Brains From Museum, Sells Them on eBay

The Indiana Medical History Museum in Indianapolis was the victim of a recent theft of some of its brain tissue samples. But an alert e-bay customer in California alerted authorities after 21-year old David Charles sold him half a dozen jars containing brain tissue for $600 on the popular online auction website. The containers held the brain tissue matter retrieved from a variety of psychiatric patients who passed away decades ago but also contained other human tissue.

“A museum’s mission is to hold these materials as cultural and scientific objects in the public interest. To have that disturbed — to have that broken — is extraordinarily disturbing to those of us in the museum field,” the museum’s executive director, Mary Ellen Hennessey Nottage, told The Indianapolis Star.

Charles allegedly entered the Museum on several different occasions during a 12 month period in order to steal the samples. The Museum sits on the grounds of the former Central State Hospital and served as the state’s primary state mental hospital facility until it was shuttered twenty years ago. The stolen jars of brain tissue were collected from autopsies of individuals who were patients at the hospital between 1890 and 1940. Police officials report that Charles may have stolen more than five dozen jars of tissues from the Museum. The Museum’s executive director indicated that most of the stolen materials have been retrieved from Charles and returned to their facility. The man who purchased the odd lot on e-bay has not been charged.

On The Web:
Brain samples stolen from Indiana medical museum
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/02/3848987/brain-samples-stolen-from-indiana.html

Thief steals brains sells them on eBay
Man steals brains from dead mental patients and sells them on eBay

Man steals brains from dead mental patients and sells them on eBay
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/man-sells-brains-dead-mental-patients-ebay-article-1.1564604#ixzz2pWL7cJsv