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Owner of tissue donation firm facing prison

Posted at 5:27 AM, Dec 11, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-11 07:27:44-05
PHOENIX (AP) - The owner of an Arizona company that arranges the donation of bodies for medicine and research is facing prison time after pleading guilty to a felony charge for his role in mishandling the donations.
 
Prosecutors say Stephen Gore faces between 2 ½ years to 7 years in prison when he's sentenced Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court.
 
The 48-year-old Gore pleaded guilty in October to a charge of illegally conducting an enterprise after his company, Biological Resource Center of Arizona, was the subject of a two-year investigation.
 
Gore acknowledged his firm provided vendors with human tissue that was contaminated and used in ways that went against the wishes of the donors.
 
The company's body donation facility in Phoenix was raided in January 2014 by authorities wearing hazardous-material gear.