PITTSBURGH - Jo Haas, director of the Carnegie Science Center, has confirmed an ABC News report alleging that one of the human bodies in the popular “Bodies Exhibit” currently on display at the Science Center is Mr. Lee, the former owner of a popular laundromat who misled customers for years by insisting that the superior quality of his dry cleaning was the result of an ancient Chinese secret. An investigation by the U.S. Justice Department’s Division of Consumer Protection subsequently confirmed that, contrary to Mr. Lee’s assertion, there were no secrets involved. Rather, it was revealed he was using a widely available detergent known as Calgon. Mr. Lee later confessed that he did not have possession of any ancient secrets. He was convicted of fraud, and served seven years in a Federal correctional facility before being deported in 1988. ABC News said that following his repatriation to China , Mr. Lee was arrested, charged with crimes against the state, and sent to a forced labor laundry camp on the Manchurian border. He was later executed after being caught using excess starch on one of then General Secretary Deng Xiaoping’s shirts.
“My husband, some hot-shot,” said his widow, Mrs. Lee. “He was always looking to fool somebody, and now he’s the one who looks foolish.” Ms. Haas said that while ABC correspondent Brian Ross was correct in his identification of Mr. Lee, his claim that the other body in the exhibit belongs to former Cartwright family cook Hop Sing is “patently false.”
