Father, son accused of selling body parts on black market

Father, son accused of selling body parts on black market

A Chicago-area father and son face federal charges in Michigan for allegedly selling diseased body parts on the black market.

Donald Greene Sr. and Donald Greene Jr., who were behind the now-shuttered Biological Resource Center of Illinois, allegedly sold parts — with full knowledge that they were unhealthy — without telling their buyers, according to local station WBBM.

The pair allegedly kept bodies known to have HIV, sepsis and hepatitis on ice, then sold them for up to $100,000, according to the report.

In one case, a mom was told her son’s tissues would go to colleges and research centers — but parts of him sold for $5,000 instead, a search warrant revealed.

Federal attorneys called the men’s alleged actions a plot “to defraud customers of the Biological Resource Center of Illinois,” the outlet reported.

While it’s not necessarily illegal to dismember and broker body parts, selling remains that contain infectious diseases is, according to the report.

And the father and son allegedly did just that from 2008 to 2014, officials said.

The men allegedly sold at least one specimen that “had previously tested positive for hepatitis” to Detroit Medical Center’s sports medicine department — an act that “was concealed by Donald A. Greene Sr.’s scheme to defraud,” according to the federal charging document obtained by the outlet.

Greene Sr. is charged with wire fraud, and his son faces a felony for intentionally concealing a crime, according to the report.

Authorities learned about the duo as they investigated Detroit body broker Arthur Rathburn, who supplied cadavers and body parts for medical training, but failed to disclose they were infected with hepatitis or HIV.