NewsWhore
02-02-2007, 06:00 PM
A doctor admitted yesterday in Superior Court in Middlesex County that he stole a hand from a medical-school cadaver in May 2002 that was later found in the home of an exotic dancer he had befriended.
The plea deal Ahmed Rashed, 26, reached with prosecutors calls for him to receive five years of probation, during which he is barred from seeking a license to practice medicine in New Jersey. Linda Kay, 31, who dances under the name "Zillah" at the Hott 22 in Union, is being admitted to a pretrial intervention program to resolve her charge of receiving stolen property, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Police discovered the hand at Kay's South Plainfield house in July -- along with six human skulls she bought legally through a mail- order catalog -- where officers were called to Kay's home on a report of a suicidal man.
Investigators later learned that Rashed took the hand from the University of Medicine and Dentistry when he was a student there in May 2002 and gave it to Kay after he met her at Hott 22, police said. He pleaded guilty yesterday to third-degree theft before Superior Court Judge Frederick DeVesa.
Kalman Geist, a Paterson attor ney representing Rashed, said his client is a resident at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles and blamed the theft on a youthful mistake.
"When my client was a first-year medical student he took a hand from a fully-dissected cadaver that was ready for cremation. He was unaware it was a crime," Geist said. "Everybody understands that people do silly things when they're 22. He is now a resident in the emer gency room in one of the busiest inner-city hospitals."
Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Judson Hamlin, who handled Rashed's plea, also said yesterday that Kay would be ad mitted to a pretrial program for first-time offenders that would not result in a criminal record if she completes a year of supervision.
In addition to the receiving sto len property charge, Kay was accused of criminal restraint in a separate incident. Kay and two friends, housemate Sean McDonough, 30, and another nude dancer, Polina Nikulina, 26, were accused of holding a third woman in the South Plainfield home on Dana Drive before they fell asleep and she was able to flee.
The criminal restraint charge was made part of the deal to allow Kay into the PTI program, Hamlin said. McDonough and Nikulina have also applied to the PTI program, but no decisions have been made on their applications, Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Carver said.
The arrest and court action led Kay to lose the South Plainfield house she owned with McDonough, according to Kay's father, Robert King.
"(It) cost her her house. She had to sell it," King said. "She got her butt kicked real good."
He also expressed sympathy for Rashed.
"I feel sorry for the guy," King said. "He really didn't do anything."
Geist said he has letters from executives at the emergency room at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles praising Rashed for his work there. Financial cuts are forcing the hospital where Rashed currently works to close its residency program in June, and Rashed is seeking another hospital to complete his final year as a resident, the attorney said.
"Nobody wants this man not to practice," Geist said, adding that Rashed plans to eventually seek a license in New Jersey, where he grew up and where his family lives.
Hamlin said there are no plans to notify medical boards outside New Jersey about the guilty plea.
"That is outside our jurisdiction. Our concern is New Jersey," Hamlin said. "The plea serves the community and at the same time punishes his crime."
DeVesa scheduled Rashed's sentencing for March 1.
Kay has continued dancing at Hott 22, but club owner Dan Russo said she is glad to get the charges behind her.
"To celebrate, we're going to tell everyone to give her a hand when she gets back on stage," Russo said. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?i=2L498Mo5</img> (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?a=2L498Mo5) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?i=UBDvzdDg</img> (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?a=UBDvzdDg) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?i=myV5HAeB</img> (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?a=myV5HAeB) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?i=zZxtMPPe</img> (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?a=zZxtMPPe)
More... (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sxxxyorg/~3/85598972/give-that-woman-hand.html)
The plea deal Ahmed Rashed, 26, reached with prosecutors calls for him to receive five years of probation, during which he is barred from seeking a license to practice medicine in New Jersey. Linda Kay, 31, who dances under the name "Zillah" at the Hott 22 in Union, is being admitted to a pretrial intervention program to resolve her charge of receiving stolen property, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Police discovered the hand at Kay's South Plainfield house in July -- along with six human skulls she bought legally through a mail- order catalog -- where officers were called to Kay's home on a report of a suicidal man.
Investigators later learned that Rashed took the hand from the University of Medicine and Dentistry when he was a student there in May 2002 and gave it to Kay after he met her at Hott 22, police said. He pleaded guilty yesterday to third-degree theft before Superior Court Judge Frederick DeVesa.
Kalman Geist, a Paterson attor ney representing Rashed, said his client is a resident at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles and blamed the theft on a youthful mistake.
"When my client was a first-year medical student he took a hand from a fully-dissected cadaver that was ready for cremation. He was unaware it was a crime," Geist said. "Everybody understands that people do silly things when they're 22. He is now a resident in the emer gency room in one of the busiest inner-city hospitals."
Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Judson Hamlin, who handled Rashed's plea, also said yesterday that Kay would be ad mitted to a pretrial program for first-time offenders that would not result in a criminal record if she completes a year of supervision.
In addition to the receiving sto len property charge, Kay was accused of criminal restraint in a separate incident. Kay and two friends, housemate Sean McDonough, 30, and another nude dancer, Polina Nikulina, 26, were accused of holding a third woman in the South Plainfield home on Dana Drive before they fell asleep and she was able to flee.
The criminal restraint charge was made part of the deal to allow Kay into the PTI program, Hamlin said. McDonough and Nikulina have also applied to the PTI program, but no decisions have been made on their applications, Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Carver said.
The arrest and court action led Kay to lose the South Plainfield house she owned with McDonough, according to Kay's father, Robert King.
"(It) cost her her house. She had to sell it," King said. "She got her butt kicked real good."
He also expressed sympathy for Rashed.
"I feel sorry for the guy," King said. "He really didn't do anything."
Geist said he has letters from executives at the emergency room at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles praising Rashed for his work there. Financial cuts are forcing the hospital where Rashed currently works to close its residency program in June, and Rashed is seeking another hospital to complete his final year as a resident, the attorney said.
"Nobody wants this man not to practice," Geist said, adding that Rashed plans to eventually seek a license in New Jersey, where he grew up and where his family lives.
Hamlin said there are no plans to notify medical boards outside New Jersey about the guilty plea.
"That is outside our jurisdiction. Our concern is New Jersey," Hamlin said. "The plea serves the community and at the same time punishes his crime."
DeVesa scheduled Rashed's sentencing for March 1.
Kay has continued dancing at Hott 22, but club owner Dan Russo said she is glad to get the charges behind her.
"To celebrate, we're going to tell everyone to give her a hand when she gets back on stage," Russo said. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?i=2L498Mo5</img> (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?a=2L498Mo5) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?i=UBDvzdDg</img> (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?a=UBDvzdDg) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?i=myV5HAeB</img> (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?a=myV5HAeB) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?i=zZxtMPPe</img> (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Sxxxyorg?a=zZxtMPPe)
More... (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sxxxyorg/~3/85598972/give-that-woman-hand.html)