US man charged with stealing human skin from hospital

Philadelphia: A medical company sales representative was charged with stealing more than $350,000 worth of human skin over a period of several years.

Gary Dudek, 54, of Wallingford, was arrested and charged with theft, receiving stolen property and tampering with records last week.

He worked until September as a sales representative for a regenerative medicine firm, managing accounts for the bioscience department of Mercy Philadelphia Hospital. In that role, Dudek was allowed to order the skin grafts for the hospital whenever he wanted.

Authorities said the hospital only needed a few grafts at a time. Dudek, however, ordered more than 200 without authorisation from November 2011 through July that the hospital never received.