CORRECTION: Earlier version of this article mistakenly used images of Cremation Society of Illinois. The Cremation Society of Illinois is not associated with Cremation Services Inc. and is not being investigated by the FBI or the CDC. We apologize for the error.
A year-long national investigation into the alleged selling of human body parts by a crematorium chain continued Tuesday with raids on two suburban Chicago locations.
The two-day raids have led investigators including the FBI and agents of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to believe that possibly contaminated cadavers could have been sold for medical research. The investigation into Crematorium Services Inc. also implicates an affiliated company that arranged the donation of these human remains.
— Joanie Lum FOX 32 (@JoanieLum) January 14, 2015
The probe first unfolded in 2013 with a raid of International Biological, a research company owned by Arthur Rathburn of Grosse Pointe Park in Detroit, where thousands of body parts were housed on ice. Rathburn was previously alleged to be a member of the black market trade of human body parts, according to the Huffington Post.
Although his state license was suspended, no criminal charges were filed against Rathburn. A month later, in January 2014, FBI agents raided the Biological Resource Center of Arizona in Phoenix, which reportedly has ties to the Detroit business. The Chicago Tribune reports that investigators in hazmat suits hauled away bags stuffed with human limbs and heads.
The CDC reported three months later that they were investigating reports of “potential exposure” to diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis at the Phoenix facility.
— Allyson Blair (@AllysonCBS5) January 22, 2014
FBI special agent David Porter in Detroit ordered the warrants for the latest raids in Illinois, at Cremation Services Inc., in Schiller Park and the Biological Resource Center of Illinois in Rosemont.
“As part of an ongoing investigation of two former Biological Resource Center of Illinois business associates, the federal government and State of Arizona investigators executed search warrants today at Biological Resource Center of Illinois,” David Weisman, a lawyer for the Biological Resource Center, said in a statement.
“We are aware that the two organizations have been under investigation for several months, and we are cooperating with authorities to better understand the issues and provide all requested information to assist in their investigation.”
The Biological Research Center website state that it acts as a link between those persons who donate their body for scientific research and the U.S. medical research and education community.
The Illinois-based Cremation Services, Inc. has been under investigation since 2013. The company was involved in the shipment of 18 human heads to Rome that were scheduled for cremation, but the shipment was halted at customs because of paperwork problems, according to the Chicago Tribune. The heads were used for medical research in Italy.
