Ex-mortuary worker in US pleads guilty to selling 24 boxes of stolen body parts
Representative image of a prison.
A formermortuary worker in Arkansas has pleaded guilty to selling24 boxes of stolen body parts from medical school cadavers to a Pennsylvania man for nearly $11,000, Associated Press reported on Thursday (Apr 25). Thirty-seven-year-old Candace Chapman Scott pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count ofinterstate transportation of stolen property.
Scott had pleaded not guilty when shewas indictedin 2023 in the case. The report said that Scott was among the several people charged in whatprosecutors called a nationwide scheme to steal and sell human body parts from an Arkansas mortuary and Harvard Medical School.
An indictment sealed in 2023 accused the womanof setting up the transactions with Jeremy Pauley, the Pennsylvaniamanshe met through a Facebook group. In September, Pauley pleadedguilty to charges stemming from the theft and sale of the body parts from the Arkansas mortuary and Harvard.
Scott'sprison sentence
Under a plea agreement with Scott, federal prosecutorsdropped10other wire and mail charges sought against her. But she faces up to10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine on the transporting stolen property charge.
Scott also facesup to 20 years in prison andup toa $250,000 fine on the mail fraud charge.
She worked at theArkansas Central Mortuary Services, where part of her job was to transport, cremate, and embalm remains.The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciencessaidthat’swhere the medical school sent remains ofcadaversthat hadbeen donatedfor medical students to examine.
The indictment
Lastyear'sindictment alleged that Scott approachedPauley in October 2021 and began offering to sell him remains from the medical school that the mortuary was supposed to cremate and return.
It alleged thatover the next nine months, Scott sold Pauley fetuses, brains, hearts, lungs, genitalia, large pieces of skin, and other body parts. The indictment also alleged that at one point,Scott sold the remains of a fetus at a discount,writing“he’snot in great shape.”
(With inputs from agencies)