State, feds to probe brain-harvesting operation

PORTLAND – State and federal authorities plan to split the duties of an investigation into whether misleading tactics were used to collect human brains in Maine for a Maryland-based research laboratory.

U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby said her office and the FBI are working together to determine whether the now-suspended brain-harvesting operation violated federal law. The Maine Attorney General’s Office will determine whether state laws were broken, she said.

“The question simply became whether there is a violation of the statutes. That gives us jurisdiction,” Silsby told the Maine Sunday Telegram for Sunday editions.

Federal and state prosecutors confirmed earlier this month that they had started an investigation into 99 brains collected at the state Medical Examiner’s Office between 1999 and 2003. The former state funeral inspector oversaw their collection and shipment to the Stanley Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Md.

Some have questioned whether the Attorney General’s Office, which oversees the medical examiner in Maine, should participate in the investigation. But Silsby said her office became involved only because federal laws may have been broken.

Silsby said her office is looking at two areas of federal statutes as it reviews the brain-harvesting operation. One deals with interstate transportation of stolen goods, and the other addresses mail and wire fraud.

David Barry, a Portland lawyer who represents the Stanley Institute, said the Attorney General’s Office has requested information from his client, and that the institute has complied. He declined to comment on what the institute provided.

“The institute cooperated fully with the attorney general’s request for information and will continue that cooperation with any investigation undertaken by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” he said.

He added that his client welcomes the investigation and is confident the attorney general and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will perform a fair review.

“Based on information that has been reported in the media, particularly the fact that allegations are being made involving the state Medical Examiner’s Office, it is understandable the attorney general would consider it appropriate to take a look at this matter,” Barry said.