A former Cumberland County resident who pleaded guilty to multiple federal offenses stemming from an investigation into stolen body parts has now pleaded guilty in a central Pennsylvania court.
Jeremy Pauley, 41, of Thompson, Susquehanna County, entered a guilty plea on Monday to one count of abuse of a corpse in Cumberland County’s Court of Common Pleas, documents show.
One count of dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activities and two counts of receiving stolen property were dismissed with Pauley’s plea, court documents said.
Pauley previously pleaded guilty to two federal charges – interstate transportation of stolen property and conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property – which carried a minimum sentence of 24 to 30 months in prison and a maximum sentence of 15 years and a $500,000 fine.
Pauley initially told authorities he legally bought three skeletons and owned body parts as a “collector.” However, investigators found three to five buckets of human remains in the basement of his East Pennsboro Township home just weeks later.
Pauley admitted to using Facebook to facilitate the buying and selling of body parts – obtained from the Harvard Medical School and the University of Arkansas – throughout 2021 and 2022 following U.S. Attorney Sean A. Camoni’s recitation of the prosecution’s evidence.
Cedric Lodge, former manager of the morgue for the anatomical gifts program at Harvard Medical School, and Candace Chapman Scott, who was employed at a Little Rock mortuary, are accused of stealing the remains.
Pauley reportedly had buying and selling relationships with multiple people in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. He is set to be sentenced on the charges out of Cumberland County in March.