Body Snatcher: Stealing Parts from the Dead

PHILADELPHIA - A nurse admitted Wednesday he cut body parts from 244 corpses and helped forge paperwork so the parts, some of them diseased, could be used in unsuspecting patients.

Authorities say nurse Lee Cruceta was the lead cutter in a group that trafficked in more than 1,000 stolen body parts for the lucrative transplant market.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy, taking part in a corrupt organization, abuse of a corpse and 244 counts each of theft and forgery. Cruceta, 35, also has pleaded guilty to related charges in New York and negotiated pleas to serve concurrent sentences of 6 1/2 to 20 years.

Mr. Cruceta should also, I hope and assume, lose his license to practice nursing permanently!

Priviledged Young Couple Exploits Neighbors, Stealing Their Identities

PHILADELPHIA - They were young, rich and in love. But the jet-setters financed their fun on the credit cards of unsuspecting neighbors in their high-end apartment building and other identity-fraud victims, police said Monday.

Jocelyn Kirsch, 22, and Edward K. Anderton, 25, were charged Friday with identity theft, forgery, unlawful use of a computer and a laundry list of other counts.


Their fraud scheme, estimated at $100,000 this year alone, paid for jaunts to Paris, London and Hawaii and other luxury perks, including Kirsch's stop at a tony salon for $1,700 worth of hair extensions, police said.

"They were two young people that were given many gifts in life," said Detective Terry Sweeney, who spoke of the couple's supportive families and private schooling. "And the very best thing they could do was victimize other people."

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer