Man charged in $350K human skin heist from Philadelphia hospital

Associated Press<br /><img border="0" src="http://www.rep-am.com/content/articles/2014/05/31/news/national/807610.jpg" /><br />PHILADELPHIA — A medical company sales representative was charged with stealing more than $350,000 worth of human skin over a period of several years.<br /><br />Gary Dudek, 54, of Wallingford, was arrested Monday and charged with theft, receiving stolen property and tampering with records.<br /><br />Authorities say 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.<br /><br />Authorities said the hospital only needed a few grafts at a time. Dudek, however, ordered more than 200 without authorization from November 2011 through July that the hospital never received, investigators said.<br /><br />Philadelphia police said they do not know the motive or what happened to the grafts, which were valued at $1,700 each.<br /><br />Dudek was released Tuesday after posting 10 percent of $10,000 bail. His attorney, Eugene Tinari, told WCAU-TV in a statement that the hospital has yet to prove his client did anything wrong, and the case should be handled as a civil matter.<br /><br />"To take this into the criminal arena against a man who has been nothing but hard-working and law-abiding his entire life is a bit draconian, in my view," he said.<br /><br />Dudek worked for Canton, Mass.-based Organogenesis. As a sales rep, he would have had no use for human skin grafts, company spokeswoman Angelyn Lowe told the Philadelphia Daily News.

Philadelphia VIDEO: Is This the Knockout Game in Philadelphia? Man charged in $350K human skin heist from Philadelphia hospital

Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — A medical company sales representative was charged with stealing more than $350,000 worth of human skin ov...

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VIDEO: Is This the Knockout Game in Philadelphia?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- 3 --><br /><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4973891917352186" data-ad-slot="2995338919" style="display: inline-block; height: 250px; width: 300px;"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <div><h1 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Alt Gothic', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 400; line-height: 50px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">VIDEO: Is This the Knockout Game in Philadelphia?</span></h1></div><div><a href="http://www.phillymag.com/">http://www.phillymag.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="SEPTA KNOCKOUT" src="http://cdn.phillymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/SEPTA-KNOCKOUT.jpg" /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">ver the last two days, we’ve told you about </span><a href="http://www.phillymag.com/news/2013/11/19/woman-takes-photo-of-man-who-assaulted-her/" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">two separate incidents</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"> where women have allegedly been attacked by the same man on Broad Street, the man shown in the below photo, which was taken by one of the victims immediately after he punched her.</span></div><div><img alt="attacker photo 1" src="http://cdn.phillymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/attacker-photo-1.jpg" /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">One incident occurred at Broad and Arch streets and the other at the Erie station on the Broad Street Subway. Both attacks happened in broad daylight, and in both cases, the man has not stolen anything from them. He’s simply punched them and then run away. Some have asked on Reddit and on Facebook whether this is evidence of the so-called “Knockout Game” arriving in Philadelphia. Well, now we have obtained a video.</span></div><div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">This video was provided to <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Philadelphia </em>magazine by SEPTA Police and shows the assault at the Erie station. Watch it for yourself. The woman, a Temple med student, is seen walking through the station. She is attacked from behind. The man who hits her immediately runs away, making no apparent attempt to steal anything from her. Like the man in the photo, he is wearing a dark hat and jacket and a scarf. The victim in the video tells me she is certain it is the same man from the photo.</div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">So is this evidence of the Knockout Game in Philadelphia? Like the Knockout Game, the attacks come from out of nowhere and seemingly have no real purpose. Like the Knockout Game — or at least the incidents of it <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57613157-504083/knockout-game-targeting-victims-in-several-cities-report-says/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #cc0000; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">that have been widely publicized in the media this week</a> — the perpetrator is African American and the victims are white. But who knows?</div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Whatever it is, it’s “disconcerting,” says SEPTA Police Chief Thomas Nestel. “It’s certainly a random strike on a female rider. He doesn’t reach for her bag or her phone,” observes Nestel. “He reaches in to punch her and then immediately leaves and takes off running. It’s bizarre behavior.”</div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Bizarre indeed. And scary, whether this is the Knockout Game or not. Nestel says that SEPTA Police are looking through other surveillance footage to try to obtain a clear image of the man and confirm that it is the same man from the photo. And the Philadelphia Police Department continues to investigate.</div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">In the meantime, be careful out there.</div></div></div>

VIDEO: Is This the Knockout Game in Philadelphia? VIDEO: Is This the Knockout Game in Philadelphia?

VIDEO: Is This the Knockout Game in Philadelphia? http://www.phillymag.com ver the last two days, we’ve told you about  two separate incide...

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