The man involved in the theft and sale of human body parts from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary has pleaded guilty to federal charges and now faces up to 15 years in prison.
Jeremy Pauley, of Thompson, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Thursday according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Pauley, 41, now faces up to 15 years in prison. It is unclear if a sentencing date has been scheduled.
He admitted that he knowingly purchased stolen human remains from various people and then sold many of the stolen remains to other individuals who also knew they had been stolen.
Pauley and six others were charged in June with trafficking stolen human remains, including skulls, hearts, skin and stillborn babies, from the mortuary manager of Harvard Medical School.
The manager, Cedric Lodge, 65, is alleged to have stolen heads, brains, skin and other body parts from cadavers donated to the prestigious university for scientific research and education, and sold them to buyers like Pauley.
The man involved in the theft and sale of human body parts from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary has pleaded guilty to federal charges and now faces up to 15 years in prison.
The human remains included half a head, a whole head, three brains, a heart, a liver, a lung, two kidneys, a female pelvis, a torso with a nipple and four human hands.
He admitted that he knowingly purchased stolen human remains from several people and then sold many of the stolen remains to other individuals, including some who also knew they had been stolen.
Trials are still pending against the other defendants, including Lodge of Goffstown, New Hampshire, who is accused of stealing dissected parts of cadavers donated to the medical school between 2018 and 2023.
Lodge’s wife, Denise, 63, also faces charges in connection with the case.
Lodge reportedly took the body parts home, including heads, brains, skin and bones, and sent some body parts to buyers. He also allegedly allowed buyers to come to the morgue to choose what else they wanted to buy.
According to police, the body parts were taken without the knowledge or permission of the school.
Pauly allegedly purchased $4,000 worth of human remains from Candace Scott, who police said stole them from a morgue partnered with the University of Arkansas.
The human remains included half a head, a whole head, three brains, a heart, a liver, a lung, two kidneys, a female pelvis, a torso with a nipple and four human hands.
The store owner was supposed to receive Scott’s shipment in Pennsylvania, but police intercepted the remains while they were in transit.
He was arrested and released on $50,000 bail following an investigation that began on June 14 when police received a tip about Pauley’s suspicious activities and his collections.
Officers were surprised by the finding, with Cumberland District Attorney Sean M. McCormack calling the investigation “bizarre.”
“These are the most bizarre investigations I have encountered in my thirty-three years as a prosecutor,” McCormack said at the time.
“Just when I think I’ve seen it all, a case like this comes along,” he added.
The caller who tipped off police said they found “several” five-gallon buckets of human remains in Pauley’s basement.
Researchers later recovered the remains, which included human brains, hearts, livers, skin and lungs.
Dr. Wayne Ross confirmed that the remains from Pauley’s basement were human body parts.
Jeremy Pauley, of Thompson, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
He admitted that he knowingly purchased stolen human remains from several people and then sold many of the stolen remains to others, including some who also knew they had been stolen.
Pauley and six others were charged in June with trafficking stolen human remains, including skulls, hearts, skin and stillborn babies
Trials are still pending for the other defendants, including Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire
Pauly allegedly purchased $4,000 worth of human remains from Candace Scott, who police said stole them from a morgue partnered with the University of Arkansas
Pauley, 41, now faces up to 15 years in prison. It is unclear if a sentencing date has been scheduled
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the University of Arkansas said the remains sold to Pauley were donated to the school’s medical sciences sector but were later stolen from the mortuary by an employee.
Spokesperson Leslie Taylor told CBS News. “We have great respect for those who donate their bodies, and we are shocked that such a thought could happen.”
Pauley is the owner of The Grand Wunderkammer – a shop that sells ‘strange and unusual’ items to the public and to museum exhibits. According to his Facebook, he is also the executive director and curator of the Memento Mori Museum.
The bone lover’s bizarre collections have won him an online following, with his almost 6,000 Facebook supporters now wondering what will happen to him.
One supporter wrote online: ‘Cheer up, you have a bigger army of supporters than you think my friend.
“Those of us who know, know you’re solid.”
Others noted that they “still love and support” Pauley and “appreciate everything” he does for “the quirk community,” while noting that “many people” have “partial human skulls” and teeth.
Pauley’s last purchase was a plastic container filled with medical bones that he had mailed a few days before his arrest. He captioned the post: ‘Picked up more medical bones for sorting.’
A few days earlier, on August 7, Pauley advertised and sold an “antique articulated partial pelvis with sacrum and five vertebrae.”
The store owner is also selling hundreds of teeth in bags, some of which are stained “due to an old-fashioned disinfectant that was used in the past,” Pauley said.