11 September 2023 , 16:11
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A man is facing up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to selling human remains, including two stillborn babies, online.
Jeremy Pauley, 41, from Pennsylvania, sold stolen remains from Harvard Medical School as well as other facilities as part of a nationwide human body part trafficking network spanning from 2018 to 2022. He is one of seven people who were charged in the case in June
On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to transporting stolen property across state borders. He also admitted he purchased human remains from multiple people knowing that the remains were stolen and admitted to selling many of the stolen remains to others, at least one of whom also knew they had been stolen.
Jeremy Pauley, pictured in a mugshot (right) obtained from the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office, can be seen sporting face tattoos, including on his right eye, and piercingsPaul allegedly sold remains stolen by Candace Chapman Scott. Scott worked at Little Rock, Arkansas mortuary and crematorium and is said to have stolen parts of the bodies she was supposed to cremate, as well as the corpses of two stillborn babies who were supposed to be cremated and returned to their families.
One of the defendants, Cedric Lodge, from Goffstown, New Hampshire, was the manager of the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Lodge is accused of stealing donated organs and other body parts including heads, brains, skins and bones, which he either sent to buyers through the mail or took back to his home.
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Arkansas mortuary where Candace Chapman Scott allegedly worked (Google Maps)Lodge reportedly allowed buyers to come into the morgue and select which body parts and from what body they wanted to purchase.
According to local media, Lodge was helped by his wife Denise, 63, to sell the remains over the phone or via social media. Cedric Lodge, 55, Katrina Maclean, 44, Joshua Taylor, 46, Denise Lodge, 63, Mathew Lampi, 52, were all charged alongside Pauley.
Former mortuary worker Candace Chapman Scott, 36, stands accused of selling at least 20 boxes of body parts to Jeremy Lee Pauley, 40, whom she met in a social media group about 'oddities' (Facebook)Authorities say the body parts were taken without Harvard Medical School’s knowledge and the school has been cooperating with authorities throughout their investigation. Bodies donated to the school are used for education, teaching or research purposes. Normally, once they are no longer needed, the donated bodies are cremated and their ashes are returned to their families.
Pauley, who is yet to be sentenced over his role in the network, and Mathew Lampi, who is awaiting trial, allegedly brought and sold human remains from each other over an extended period and exchanged over $100,000 (£80,000) in online payments.
Last year, new revelations about ‘Morgue Monster’ David Fuller saw him given four more years in prison for sexually abusing the corpses of 23 women. The electrician had been working at the now-closed Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Penbury and used his access to film himself abusing the corpses.