Former US dentist pleads guilty to body snatching

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

NEW YORK (AFP) — A former dentist charged with stealing body parts from more than 1,000 corpses pleaded guilty in a New York court Tuesday, in a case that will likely see him sentenced to at least 18 years in jail.

Michael Mastromarino stands charged with illegally harvesting organs, body parts and tissue from the bodies of people who never consented to be donors, including veteran BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke.

Mastromarino, 44, pleaded guilty under the terms of a plea deal that would see him facing 18 to 54 years in jail instead of a life term.

"He recognizes that what he did was wrong and he admitted that in court today," said his lawyer, Mario Gallucci, while blaming the companies that bought the tissue for pressuring his client into doing what he did....