CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — A Pennsylvania man connected to selling stolen body parts from Harvard Medical School and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) mortuary has been sentenced to two years of probation on March 5.
According to Cumberland County court documents, Jeremy Pauley, 41, pleaded guilty to a charge of abuse of a corpse on Jan. 8. A charge for dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity and two charges of receiving stolen property against Pauley were dropped.
Pauley was arrested in August 2022 after the East Pennsboro Township Police (EPTP) executed a search warrant when a caller reported that Pauley had buckets of "human skin" and "human organs" in his basement, according to documents obtained by our Pennsylvania affiliate WPMT.
During the investigation, police determined that Pauley allegedly purchased remains from Candace Scott, a former mortuary worker in Arkansas, over Facebook Messenger.
Those messages showed Scott had sold Pauley several human remains for $4,000, including:
- Half a human head
- One whole human head minus the skull cap
- Three human brains with skull caps
- A human heart
- A human liver
- A human lung
- Human kidneys (2)
- A human female pelvis
- A piece of a human torso including a nipple
- Human hands (4)
The body parts were shipped to Pauley via the U.S. Postal Service, EPTP police say. According to Pennsylvania investigators, Arkansas authorities discovered Scott was stealing the remains from a mortuary owned by UAMS and sending them to Pauley to be resold. The remains belonged to the University of Arkansas, documents state.
Pauley admitted to buying the items from Scott and reselling them on Facebook for profit.
Scott was indicted on April 5, 2023, for her involvement in the case. In May, Scott pleaded not guilty to charges that she sold 20 boxes of stolen body parts from medical school cadavers to Pauley.
She also pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, and interstate transportation of stolen property.
In the same month, she was ordered to undergo a psych evaluation, which was received by the court in September.
According to court filings out of the Eastern District of Arkansas, Scott is expected to appear in court for a plea hearing on April 25, 2024. Her trial date is scheduled for September 22, 2024.
Scott was employed at Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, where part of her job was to transport, cremate, and embalm remains. UAMS said that's where the medical school sent remains of cadavers that had been donated for medical students to examine.
In August 2022, UAMS released the following statement:
We have a contract with Arkansas Central Mortuary Services to take the bodies for cremation after they are no longer being used by our students. An employee of the mortuary service is under investigation by federal authorities for taking some human remains from the mortuary that were donated to UAMS. We are saddened and appalled that this happened.
Pauley admitted that he bought human remains from multiple people, knowing the remains were stolen, and also admitted to selling many of the stolen remains to others, including at least one person who also knew they had been stolen.
Pauley was among seven people indicted in the case in June. Trials are still pending for the other defendants, including Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, who is accused of stealing dissected portions of cadavers that were donated to the medical school in the scheme that stretched from 2018 to early 2023. The body parts were taken without the school’s knowledge or permission, authorities have said, adding that the school has cooperated with the investigation.
Lodge sometimes took the body parts — which included heads, brains, skin, and bones — back to his home while some remains were sent to buyers through the mail, authorities allege. Lodge also allegedly allowed buyers to come to the morgue to pick what remains they wanted to buy. Lodge's wife, Denise, 63, also faces charges in connection with the case.
Report from April 2023:
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