A 23-year-old Indiana man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to breaking into a medical museum and stealing preserved human brains and other tissue that he then sold online, authorities said.
David Charles, of Indianapolis, Indiana, pleaded guilty to six charges including receiving stolen property and burglary in a Marion County court where US Magistrate Amy Barbar sentenced him to one year of home detention and two years of probation, county prosecutor spokesman Anthony Deer said.
Charles on multiple occasions broke into the Indiana Medical History Museum to steal jars of brains and other human tissue, the Marion County prosecutor’s office said.
The museum is a former hospital for the insane founded in 1848 and later converted into a museum with an autopsy room and anatomical museum.
Charles was arrested in December 2013 after a San Diego man who bought six jars of brain material for US$600 on eBay alerted police, court documents said. Many of the items Charles sold were recovered when the San Diego man matched the items he bought to those stolen from the museum based on research he did online, court documents said.
Investigators were able to identify Charles partly because he left behind in the museum a piece of paper with his bloody fingerprint on it, court documents said. They recovered 80 jars of human tissue, court documents said.
Charles, who was ordered to stay away for the museum, also stole an electrocardiogram machine, about 10 scopes, a baby scale and other miscellaneous historical items from the museum, Deer said.
Charles must also earn a high-school diploma or GED certificate per the agreement, Deer said.
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