Closing arguments are expected Friday in the trial of a Grosse Pointe Park man accused of selling diseased body parts for medical or dental training.
Arthur Rathburn, the former owner of International Biological Inc., is charged with nine counts of wire fraud, three counts of making false statements and one count of transporting hazardous material. His trial began two weeks ago in U.S. District Court.
Federal prosecutors say Rathburn knowingly purchased body parts infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and Hepatitis B and C, and sold them to buyers without informing them the parts were diseased.
Witnesses who have testified include Rathburn’s ex-wife Elizabeth, a former employee of the business who pleaded guilty in 2016 to one count of wire fraud in exchange for cooperating with the government.
When asked why she and her ex-husband did not disclose to customers that the body parts they were buying were infected with HIV and hepatitis, she said: “Because we would have lost the contract.”
Elizabeth Rathburn said her ex-husband assured her there was no problem selling the infected limbs. “He said he had an embalming process that would yield the virus inactive,” she said.
Documents provided to clients indicated all bodies and parts had been tested for HIV and hepatitis. Elizabeth Rathburn said that was “to assure the customer they were getting a clean body to work on.”
Other witnesses said Arthur Rathburn kept a filthy warehouse with bodies stored skin-to-skin and used a crowbar to separate them. Dead insects and blood littered the floor, witnesses recalled.
Stephen Gore, owner of Arizona-based Biological Resource Center, which provided cadavers to Durkee, also testified. Gore pleaded guilty in Arizona state court to running an illegal business, after he knowingly sent Arthur Rathburn body parts that were infected with HIV and hepatitis.
Gore said Arthur Rathburn specifically requested infected parts, so he could buy them at a discount and sell them to unknowing customers.
bwilliams@detroitnews.com