A Navy pathologist has been reassigned to an administrative position for letting his children handle the brain of a deceased Marine Corps sergeant while his wife took pictures in their home.

Cmdr. Mark Shelly, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, admitted to the Virginia Board of Medicine to mishandling the deceased Marine’s brain while it was transported from Camp Lejeune, N.C., to Portsmouth Naval Hospital, board records show. When the military learned of it, Shelly was moved to a position at Portsmouth where he no longer performs autopsies. The medical board fined him $2,500 on June 28 and closed the case Tuesday after he paid the fine.

Shelly could not be reached for comment, but in a letter to the board he said he used “extremely poor” judgment.

Shelly was a regional medical examiner and would travel to different medical facilities to perform autopsies, a position that allowed for examinations without having to ship a person’s entire remains, said Paul Stone, a spokesman for the Armed Forces Medical Examiner’s Office at Dover Air Base, Del.Click here to read more