Man who stole brain tissue sentenced to 4 years

Justin L. Mack | The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — A man who admitted to stealing brains from a museum and selling them on eBay has received a four-year sentence for the crime.

Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry announced Wednesday that David Charles, 23, of Indianapolis pleaded guilty to breaking into the Indiana Medical History Museum several times in 2013 to steal jars of human brain tissue and other human tissue.

After fleeing with the brains, authorities said Charles sold the stolen items, which were then resold on eBay. Court documents said a crime scene specialist with the Indianapolis-Marion County Forensic Services Agency recovered evidence from the crime scene, including a white piece of paper that contained a fingerprint in blood.

The IMPD Latent Print division determined that the print was consistent with the left pinkie finger of Charles.

Police also were contacted by the buyer, a San Diego man who purchased six of the jars online for $600, after the buyer noticed labels on the containers and suspected wrongdoing.

Detectives used that tip to trace the transactions and spoke to an eBay seller who provided the brain tissue to the man in San Diego. That seller said he got the brains from Charles.

Charles was arrested Dec. 16, 2013, when the eBay seller arranged a meeting in the parking lot of a Dairy Queen with Charles. The day before the meeting, Charles stole 60 jars of human tissue from the museum, court documents said.

The museum is on the site of the former Central State Hospital, which served patients with psychiatric and mental disorders from 1848 to 1994. Doctors autopsied some of those patients, and kept their remains perserved in jars, to learn more about mental illness.

Three years of Charles' four-year sentence were suspended to be served with Marion County Community Corrections. He will spend one year on home detention, two years on probation and is required to obtain a high school diploma or GED.