Arkansas woman pleads guilty to selling 24 boxes of body parts stolen from cadavers
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A former mortuary worker from Arkansas pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that she sold 24 boxes of stolen body parts from medical school cadavers to a Pennsylvania man for nearly $11,000.
She was one of many recently charged in what prosecutors have called a nationwide scheme to steal and sell human body parts from an Arkansas mortuary and Harvard Medical School.
Candace Chapman Scott, 37, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property. She had pleaded not guilty when she was charged in the case last year.
An indictment unsealed last year accused Scott of setting up the transactions with Jeremy Pauley, a Pennsylvania man she met through a Facebook group about “oddities.”
In September, Pauley pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the theft and sale of body parts from the Arkansas and Harvard morgues.
Scott worked at Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, where part of her job involved transporting, cremating and embalming remains. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences at Little Rock said the medical school there sent the remains of cadavers donated to medical students for examination.
An attorney for Scott declined to comment Thursday afternoon.
Under a plea deal with Scott, federal prosecutors dropped 10 other phone and mail charges against her. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for transporting stolen property. She also faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for mail fraud.
No sentencing date has been scheduled.