Man accused of stealing skin from hospital

A man from Delaware County has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than $350,000 worth of human skin from a local hospital over the past few years. Gary Dudek, 54, of Wallingford, Pennsylvania, is charged with theft and tampering with records.

According to investigators, Dudek repeatedly stole skin grafts from Mercy Hospital between November 2011 and July 2013. Police say their investigation didn’t begin until January of this year, however, after officials at Mercy conducted an audit of their finances and noticed that skin grafts were missing.



According to investigators, Dudek worked as a sales representative for Organogenesis, a Massachusetts-based regenerative medicine company, between September 2006 and September 2013. Police say he was in charge of managing accounts for Mercy Hospital’s bio-science department and that he also supplied the hospital with skin grafts. Due to his position, Dudek had an “open purchase order” which allowed him to order the skin grafts whenever he wanted.

However, police say Dudek made several unauthorized purchases and Mercy never received the grafts, leading to the hospital losing an estimated $357,000. Officials also say Dudek was captured twice on surveillance video taking the skin grafts from the hospital and placing them in his car. Dudek was arrested and released on Tuesday after posting 10 percent of $10,000 bail. At this point, investigators say they don’t know what Dudek did with the skin or the motive behind the alleged thefts. They suspect however that he was trying to make commission from sales.

With news video.