Man accused of stealing skin grafts from California hospitals again subject of manhunt

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a San Jacinto man who prosecutors say failed to show up to court after being accused of posing as an employee at hospitals in Riverside and Orange counties and stealing $300,000 worth of property, including skin grafts.

A Riverside County sheriff’s investigator had told a judge in August that he feared Jason Brauner, 47, would flee if his bail wasn’t significantly increased, but the investigator’s plea went unheeded. Now, once again, deputies are hunting Brauner.

Brauner has been charged with burglary, grand theft and receiving stolen property, Superior Court records show. Brauner pleaded not guilty to all charges on Aug. 8 and appeared at his other court dates.

Brauner had been scheduled to appear at the Larson Justice Center in Indio on Dec. 19 for a hearing on whether he could receive a referral to Veterans Court, where the charges could be dismissed if he completed a court-ordered program.

But he did not show up that day, said Riverside County District Attorney’s spokeswoman Molly Smith, so Superior Court Judge Francisco Navarro issued a warrant for Brauner’s arrest. The warrant was still active on Monday, Jan. 12.

Brauner’s bail was originally set at $50,000, but the investigator had asked a judge to increase the bail to $500,000. The judge upped the bail, but only to $100,000, court records show, and Brauner was able to come up with the money.

In the deputy’s sworn statement to the judge, he said Brauner had been selling stolen items on Facebook and OfferUp and feared he would use the proceeds to post bail and then flee.

The affidavit said that on July 5, an employee in the operating area of Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage saw a man she did not recognize acting suspiciously. When she confronted him, he said a janitorial supervisor had permitted him to be there. Surveillance images from a previous day showed a man later identified as Brauner entering the hospital wearing blue scrubs and a surgical mask. He waited for employees to open doors before entering an operating room where boxes of skin grafts were stored.

Brauner once worked at Eisenhower as an employee of HHS, which provides culinary, cleaning, facilities management and other services to hospitals.

The investigator obtained a cell phone number for Brauner and tracked Brauner through cell towers to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, where officials reviewed security footage and said a man had stolen medical equipment. The investigator then tracked Brauner to Del Mar, where he was arrested.

Brauner was also linked to thefts of medical equipment at hospitals in Loma Linda, Utah and Nevada, the deputy wrote.

The National Organ Transplant Act makes it illegal in the United States to buy and sell human tissues. Fees may be charged to cover the cost of processing the tissues. Hospitals acquire them through licensed and accredited tissue banks.