SCRANTON, Pa. (NEWSnet/AP) — A Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the theft and sale of human body parts taken from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary.

Jeremy Pauley, 41, of Thompson, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Pauley admitted he bought human remains from multiple people, knowing the remains were stolen, and also admitted to selling many of the stolen remains to others, including at least one person who also knew they had been stolen.

Pauley was among seven people indicted in the case in June. Trials are pending for the other defendants, including Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, who is accused of stealing dissected portions of cadavers that were donated to the medical school in a scheme that stretched from 2018 to 2023. The body parts were taken without the school’s permission, authorities have said. Harvard

 

has cooperated with the investigation.

Bodies donated to Harvard Medical School are used for education, teaching or research purposes. After they no longer are needed, the cadavers typically are cremated and the ashes are returned to the donor’s family or buried in a cemetery.

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