A Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty to charges related to buying and selling stolen human body parts.
Jeremy L. Pauley, 41, of Susquehanna County admitted Thursday in federal court to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced. He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years of imprisonment and a $500,000 fine.
Pauley is one of seven people, including a Berks County man, who federal authorities say were part of a nationwide network of people who bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary.
The following have also been indicted: Cedric Lodge, 55, and Denise Lodge, 63, both of Goffstown, N.H.; Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Mass.; and Mathew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minn.
Another defendant, Chapman Scott of Little Rock, Ark., has been indicted in federal court in the District of Arkansas for her role in the conspiracy and for defrauding the mortuary that employed her.
According to authorities:
From 2018 through 2022, Cedric Lodge, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School in Boston, stole organs and other parts of cadavers donated for medical research and education before their scheduled cremations.
Lodge at times transported stolen remains from Boston to his residence in New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Denise Lodge, sold the remains to Maclean, Taylor and others. The arrangements were made via cellphone and social media websites.
At times, Cedric Lodge allowed Maclean and Taylor to enter the morgue at Harvard Medical School and examine cadavers to choose what to purchase.
On some occasions Taylor transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania. On other occasions, the Lodges shipped stolen remains to Taylor and others.
Maclean and Taylor resold the stolen remains for profit, including to Pauley. Pauley also purchased stolen human remains from Scott, who stole remains from her employer, a Little Rock mortuary and crematorium.
In June when the indictments were revealed, the government said more than $100,000 was exchanged through online payments over an extended period in the buying and selling scheme.
According to the charging documents, human remains bought, sold and shipped through the mail included embalmed human brains, skulls, skin, dissected faces and heads, internal organs and stillborn fetuses.
In pleading guilty, Pauley admitted he purchased human remains from multiple people knowing those remains were stolen. He also admitted to selling many of the stolen remains to others, at least one of whom also knew they had been stolen.
Source: Berkshire mont
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