'Bumfights' duo in body-parts mail scam
POLICE said two Americans behind the bid to smuggle body parts out of the country had been very cooperative during interrogation this past weekend. That was why police said they believed Ryan McPherson and Daniel Tanner when they said they were just touri
The duo were freed even though they admitted to police that they were the senders of the DHL parcels destined for Las Vegas. They claimed that the parcels were part of a prank they wanted to pull on a friend back home. An X-ray of the parcels – the contents of which were marked as “toys” – revealed they contained human organs.
The two Americans are believed to have fled to Cambodia via Aranyaprathet on Monday. However, police say the pair promised to return to Bangkok for further questioning on the matter. Investigation revealed that these so-called innocent tourists were actually notorious filmmakers who had produced a series of online videos in which they paid homeless people to fight one another for money.
The US media said one of the homeless men was even paid to have “Bumfights” tattooed across his forehead.
These clips were then sold over the Internet, and according to a report from Coconuts Bangkok, hundreds of thousands of copies were sold for US$19.99 (Bt655) each.
Investigation also revealed that McPherson had been arrested in 2002 in the United States and sentenced to 280 hours of community service at a homeless shelter after he released the film “Bumfights Vol 1 – Cause for Concern”.
In 2006, they agreed not to make any more of these such films and came to an out-of-court settlement with three of the homeless men involved. The men were trying 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 indeed stolen from the medical museum. Video footage showed they entering the museum and police are investigating if they stole the items or paid someone else to do the job for them.
The Criminal Court yesterday issued arrest warrants for the duo for allegedly stealing government property and falsely declaring contents of parcels.
Thai police are cooperating with Interpol and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to find information about the recipient’s address in Las Vegas.
The Coconuts Bangkok website reported that the address on the packages was that of Shoot to Kill Media Inc – McPherson’s company.
