Ex-Arkansas mortuary worker charged with selling $11,000 worth of body parts on Facebook
An Arkansas woman pleaded not guilty after being charged with allegedly selling stolen body parts from medical school corpses for $11,000 to a man she met on Facebook.
Former morgue worker Candace Chapman Scott, 36, is accused of selling at least 20 boxes of body parts to Jeremy Lee Pauley, 40, whom she met on a social media group about “oddities.”
The April 5 federal indictment does not name Pauley — who was arrested in 2022 for misappropriation of a corpse — as the purchaser, but he was named in separate state indictments.
“Just out of curiosity, would you know anyone in the market for a fully intact, embalmed brain?” Scott allegedly wrote to Pauley in her first Facebook post.
Scott has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts, including mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, and interstate transportation of stolen property.
An Arkansas woman has pleaded not guilty after being charged with allegedly selling stolen body parts from a medical school’s corpses for $11,000 to a man she met on Facebook. Pictured: The University of Arkansas Medical School at Little Rock
The April 5 federal indictment does not name Jeremy Lee Pauley — who was arrested for misappropriation of a corpse in 2022 — as the purchaser, but he was named in separate state indictments
According to the indictment, which was unsealed Friday in federal court in Little Rock, Arkansas, Scott worked at Arkansas Central Mortuary Services.
In her role, Scott was tasked with transporting, cremating and embalming remains.
The funeral home was where the University of Arkansas Medical Services would send the remains of cadavers after students examined them.
In October 2021, the woman reportedly approached Pauley and offered to sell him the remains of the medical school.
She reportedly told the man that the morgue where she worked should be cremated and the remains returned.
After the initial report, the two allegedly conspired back and forth over the course of nine months.
During that time, the lawsuit alleges, Scott sold fetuses, brains, hearts, lungs, genitals, large pieces of skin and other body parts to Pauley.
At one point, Scott Pauley allegedly sold the remains of a fetus.
She discounted the man’s remains because “he’s not in great shape,” the indictment said.
The funeral home where Scott worked was said to receive remains from the University of Arkansas Medical Services after students examined them
PICTURED: Part of a mouth Pauley bought before his arrest in August
Pauley allegedly bought the remains of a woman named Candace Scott for $4,000. The shipment included a liver, a lung, two kidneys, a female pelvis, a torso with a nipple, and four human hands. PICTURED: Pauley’s latest purchase of “medical bones” before his arrest
Another post from December 2021 claimed that Scott offered to sell Pauley “2 brains, one skull cap, 3 hearts, a cut, 2 fake boobies, a large piece of skin from the navel, [one] arm, a huge piece of skin and a lung.’
That cost Pauley $1,600 and the woman received a PayPal payment later that day.
During their relationship, the lawsuit states that Scott received $10,975 in 16 separate PayPal payments.
Prosecutors asked Judge J. Thomas Ray on Friday if Scott would remain behind bars until her trial and said they feared she would run if released.
“I think the facts… underlying the indictment and in the indictment are uniquely egregious and reprehensible and we believe there will be significant public outcry as a result,” Assistant Attorney Amanda Jegley said.
The judge said the charges against her are “shocking and depraved” but could only hold her without bail if she was dangerous or a flight risk.
“The charge is atrocious abusive behavior, shocking behavior,” Ray said.
“But under the Bail Reform Act, those are not factors I consider for community-endangering or community-endangering dangerousness,” Ray continued.
Scott’s indictment comes eight months after Pauley (pictured) was arrested for abusing a corpse in Pennsylvania
PICTURED: Teeth purchased by Pauley. During the investigation, the police found ‘several’ buckets of human remains in his home
PICTURED: ‘Antique Articulated Part Basin’ Pauley sold in early August
Some of Pauley’s other purchases include “very old” children’s skulls. “Note that the adult teeth have not fallen yet,” he wrote on Facebook
“As shocking and depraved as the alleged behavior is, none of that would be dangerous, so the only thing I see here that would support a request for detention is clear flight risk.”
She will remain in jail until a bail hearing, scheduled for Tuesday.
Scott’s indictment comes eight months after Pauley was arrested for abusing a corpse in Pennsylvania.
He has also been charged with receiving stolen property, felonies of receiving stolen property and trafficking the proceeds of unlawful activity.
Pauley is currently out on bail and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 7.