Medic guilty of hand theft

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- A young doctor has pleaded guilty to stealing a hand from a cadaver when he was a medical student, then giving it to a stripper he had befriended.

Ahmed Rashed, 26, pleaded guilty Thursday to a reduced charge of third-degree theft, said Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Judson Hamlin.

Dr. Rashed gave the hand to Linda Kay, 31, during one of his visits to the club where she worked. He got to know the exotic dancer while he was a first-year medical student in 2002. She wanted a cadaver's hand, authorities said, and he complied.

Authorities said the hand was found in a jar on Miss Kay's dresser. Friends have said she called it "Freddy."

"He meant no disrespect," said Dr. Rashed's attorney, Kalman Geist. Mr. Geist said Dr. Rashed removed the hand from a fully dissected cadaver at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark that was scheduled for cremation, and he was unaware that what he had done was illegal. He is in his third year of residency at a Los Angeles hospital.

Mr. Hamlin said he will recommend five years of probation at Dr. Rashed's sentencing hearing, scheduled for March 1.