An Arkansas woman has pleaded not guilty to charges that she sold a man 20 boxes of stolen body parts from doctors for nearly $11,000.
The April 5 indictment, unsealed Friday in Little Rock federal court, charges
Candace Chapman Scott, 36,
a former funeral home worker, with arranging the transactions with a man she met through a Facebook group about
“rarities”.
Scott, a Little Rock resident, has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and interstate transportation of stolen property.
Scott is in jail and a hearing will be held on Tuesday to decide whether to release her on bail.
An attorney for Scott did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Saturday.
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The buyer is not named in the federal indictment, but separate state charges in Pennsylvania name him as
Jeremy Lee Pauley, of Enola, Pennsylvania.
[Pennsylvania man accused of buying human bones to resell on Facebook]
Scott was employed by Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, where part of her job involved transporting, cremating, and embalming mortal remains.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock has said that's where the medical school sent donated cadaveric remains for medical students to examine.
The indictment alleges that Scott approached Pauley in October 2021 and began offering to sell him remains from the medical school that the funeral home was to cremate and return.
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“Just curious,
do you know anyone looking for an intact embalmed brain?
the allegation says Scott wrote to Pauley in his first Facebook message.
[A widow donated her husband's corpse to science but ended up in a dissection show before a $100 paying audience]
According to the indictment, over the next nine months, Scott sold Pauley fetuses, brains, hearts, lungs, genitalia, large chunks of skin, and other body parts.
At one point, the indictment alleges that
Scott sold the remains of a fetus at a discount,
writing "not in very good shape."
The indictment alleges that Scott collected $10,975 in 16 separate PayPal transfers.
Prosecutors argue that Scott should remain jailed until trial, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported, and Assistant US Attorney Amanda Jegley told US Judge J. Thomas Ray on Friday that Scott could be motivated to flee by the prospect of a long sentence. from prison.
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"I think the facts ... underlying the allegation and in the indictment are uniquely egregious and objectionable and we believe there is going to be some significant public outcry as a result of this," Jegley said.
Ray called the alleged conduct
"outrageous and depraved
. "
But since Scott isn't supposedly dangerous, under federal rules, he can only order his incarceration if there's a flight risk.
Pennsylvania authorities uncovered the plot after receiving complaints about Pauley last year.
Pauley is charged in Pennsylvania with misdemeanor battering of a dead body, felony receiving stolen property, misdemeanor receiving stolen property and felony trafficking in criminal proceeds.
Pauley is out on bail.
Court records show that the repeatedly delayed preliminary hearing for him is currently scheduled for June 7.
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Leslie Taylor, a spokeswoman for the medical university, told the Arkansas newspaper Friday that they are grateful that federal authorities charged Scott.
Taylor called people who donate their bodies for medical research "true heroes," saying they are the biggest victims of crime because of the role donations play in medical education.
Taylor said the FBI has not told school authorities if any of the remains have been identified, adding that embalming damages DNA, making identification "extremely difficult."
