Americans previously in trouble at home for online movies
Two Americans at the heart of attempted smuggling of body parts are notorious movie makers who had produced a series of online videos in which they paid homeless people to fight each other for money.
Ryan McPherson and Daniel Tanner were questioned over the weekend in Bangkok for their alleged involvement in sending body parts to Las Vegas. McPherson told police that he bought the items from a market but could not remember where.
The two claimed the body parts were meant to be a prank being pulled on a friend in Las Vegas. DHL’s xray found the body parts, which included the limbs of a dead baby and human skin in boxes, the contents of which were identified as “toys.” Both were released after Thai police failed to press charges.
Both fled to Cambodia while police said he promised to return to Bangkok for further questioning on the matter.
The US media has reported that both Americans were involved in the controversial “Bumfights” video in which homeless people were paid to fight each other for money. One of the homeless men in the video was even paid to have “Bumfights” tattooed across his forehead. The videos were then sold over the Internet. Coconut Bangkok online reports that hundreds of thousands of copies were sold online for about US$19.99.
McPherson was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 280 hours of community service at a homeless shelter following the release of the film “Bumfights Vol 1 – Cause For Concern”.
In 2006, the filmmakers agreed to not make any more of the Bumfights films and paid three of the homeless men involved in the videos as part of an out of court settlement. The men were attempting to sue the filmmakers for emotional and physical damages in connection with the Bumfights videos.
A doctor at Siriraj Hospital has confirmed that the body parts were stolen from the hospital’s medical museum. Video footage showed both Americans visited the museum and police are investigating whether they stole the items or hired someone to do the job for them.
Thai police are cooperating with Interpol and the FBI to find information about the recipient’s address in Las Vegas.
Coconut Bangkok online also reported that the packages containing the body parts were sent to Shoot to Kill Media Inc., McPherson’s media company.
On its website the company says it was started in 2007 and became an “innovator for nightclub visual content and event coverage before exploding on the scene as a full service commercial and musicvideo production company.”
