Man involved in stealing and selling human body parts from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas morgue pleads guilty and now faces up to 15 years in prison

The man implicated in the theft and sale of human body parts from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas morgue pleaded guilty and now faces up to 15 years in prison.

Jeremy Pauley, of Thompson, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Thursday conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property, 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 whether a sentencing date has been set.

He admitted to knowingly purchasing stolen human remains from multiple people and then selling many of the stolen remains to other people who also knew they had been stolen.

Pauley and six others were indicted in June by Harvard Medical School’s morgue manager on charges of trafficking stolen human remains, including skulls, hearts, skin and stillborn babies.

The manager, Cedric Lodge, 65, allegedly stole heads, brains, skin and other body parts from corpses donated to the prestigious university for scientific research and training and sold them to buyers like Pauley.

The man implicated in the theft and sale of human body parts from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas morgue pleaded guilty and now faces up to 15 years in prison

The human remains included a half head, a full 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 knowingly purchasing stolen human remains from multiple people and then selling many of the stolen remains to other people, 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 bodies donated to the medical school from 2018 to 2023.

Lodge’s wife Denise, 63, also faces charges in connection with the case.

Lodge reportedly took the body parts, including heads, brains, skin and bones, home and mailed some body parts to buyers. He also allegedly allowed buyers to come into the mortuary to select the remains they wanted to purchase.

According to police, the body parts were removed without the school’s knowledge or permission.

Pauly allegedly purchased $4,000 worth of human remains from Candace Scott, which police said she stole from a mortuary partnered with the University of Arkansas.

The human remains included a half head, a full 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 the delivery from Scott in Pennsylvania, but police intercepted the remains in transit.

He was arrested and released on $50,000 bail after the investigation began on June 14, when police received a tip about Pauley’s suspicious activities and collections.

Officials were astonished by the finding, with Cumberland District Attorney Sean M. McCormack calling the investigation “bizarre.”

“This is the most bizarre investigation I have seen in my 33 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” 5-gallon buckets of human remains in Pauley’s basement.

Investigators later recovered the remains, including human brains, hearts, livers, skin and lungs.

Dr. Wayne Ross confirmed that the remains from Pauley’s basement were human body parts.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Jeremy Pauley of Thompson, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property

He admitted knowingly purchasing stolen human remains from multiple people and then selling 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 in stolen human remains, including skulls, hearts, skin and stillborn babies

Trials are pending against the other defendants, including Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire

Pauly allegedly purchased $4,000 worth of human remains from Candace Scott, which police said she stole from a mortuary partnered with the University of Arkansas

Pauley, 41, now faces up to 15 years in prison. It is unclear whether a sentencing date has been set

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the University of Arkansas said the remains sold to Pauley were donated to the school’s medical division – but they were later stolen from the morgue by a staff member.

spokesman Leslie Taylor told CBS News. “We have great respect for those who donate their bodies and we are appalled that something like this could happen.”

Pauley is the owner of The Grand Wunderkammer – a shop that sells “strange and unusual” items to the public and in museum exhibitions. According to his Facebook page, he is also the executive director and curator of the Memento Mori Museum.

The bone lover’s bizarre collections have earned him a following online, and his nearly 6,000 Facebook fans are 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 commented that they “still love and support” Pauley and “appreciate everything” he does for “the oddities community,” while noting that “many people” have “partially human skulls” and teeth.

Pauley’s most recent purchase was a plastic container full of medical bones, which he made a few days before his arrest. He captioned the post: “I collected more medical bones to sort through.”

A few days earlier, on August 7, Pauley advertised and sold an “antique articulated partial pelvis with sacrum and five vertebrae.”

The shop owner also sells hundreds of bagged teeth – some of which were stained “by an old-fashioned disinfectant that was used back in the day,” according to Pauley.