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In 1993, he completed a short training program and landed his first job as a backup deputy coroner for the Riverside County Coroner's Office, he said. He soon started recovering tissue part time at various funeral homes for companies doing research and medical training.

From 1997 to 1999, Guyett worked as an assistant anatomy instructor for Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif. A 1997 pay stub supplied by Guyett confirms his employment there.

About 2000, he handled office work part time for land surveyors while continuing to procure tissue on the side. From 2001 to 2003, documents show he performed tissue recoveries for various banks, including the Cooperative Human Tissue Network, a bank supported by the federal government's National Cancer Institute.

Relocating to Raleigh

He moved with his wife and two young children to Las Vegas in 2002 to tap prior business contacts. He incorporated as Donor Referral Services.

He and his wife became disenchanted with Las Vegas and relocated to Raleigh. Records show the Guyetts sold the family home they bought in a Las Vegas suburb for $450,000 in 2004, when they moved to Raleigh.

"This area was consistently in the newspapers as great places to live, and it's growing fast enough that it has the amenities," Guyett said.

The Associated Press reported that Guyett made several claims on his resume and in his business dealings that were exaggerated or not true. Guyett listed Forbis & Dick Funeral Service in Greensboro as one of his business affiliates. But Mike McGhee, general manager for the funeral service, told AP: "I have been here for 27 years, and I can assure you our firm has never had any dealings with this gentleman."

Guyett supplied hundreds of tissue specimens over two years to the Cooperative Human Tissue Network, the bank supported by the National Cancer Institute for research, invoices show. One cadaver can yield more than 100 specimens.

Guyett continued to recover tissue and organs, including whole brains, until January of this year for organizations including Duke Center for Human Genetics and the Multiple Sclerosis Brain Bank, records show.

He also harvested bone and tendon for Cincinnati-based U.S. Tissue and Cell, as well as several other tissue banks.

"When you talk to people about what you do, they're generally very interested," Guyett said. "People want to know how this business works."

Guyett pleaded no contest to embezzlement charges in California in 2000 for taking payment for a corpse that did not belong to him. He said the conviction was expunged and removed from his record. A criminal background check showed no record of the conviction.

According to federal tax records supplied by Guyett, his Donor Referral Services earned $24,600 in 2004 and $38,020 in 2005.

Not much money for an emotionally taxing job, he said. "You might look at 25 bodies in one day and see people who were murdered. It's very sad to see what human beings can do to each other," Guyett said.

He performed his last tissue harvest in January and closed his business a month later, saying he has no intention of continuing in the industry.

"I was familiar with the fact that changes in FDA regulations will probably require a lot more [regulatory compliance] than a one-guy operation can handle," he said.

Receipts show Guyett sold various items on eBay in the past year, including a tissue saw for $475.

(Staff researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.)

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