Cumberland County man who illegally collected body parts given 2 years probation

A former Enola man who admitted to possessing human organs illegally taken from a morgue as part of a nationwide scheme got two years of probation handed down Tuesday as part of a plea deal.

Jeremy Pauley, 41, now of Susquehanna County, appeared in court wearing all black alongside his girlfriend, who comforted him in the minutes before Cumberland County Judge Albert Masland handed down his sentence.

Pauley’s January guilty plea only encompassed his illegal possession of human flesh.

He will be sentenced for possession of the other illegally obtained body parts in federal court. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

The sentencing ended one of two criminal cases filed against him. He previously pleaded guilty to interstate transport of stolen property and conspiracy to interstate transport of stolen property in federal court and has not yet been sentenced in that case.

Cumberland County native Jeremy Pauley has been sentenced to two years of probation after he pleaded guilty to charges in Pennsylvania of abuse of a corpse.https://t.co/Kye6XXsFOQ

— CBS 21 News (@CBS21NEWS) March 5, 2024

East Pennsboro Police accused Pauley, a self-described “collector of oddities,” of purchasing the body parts from Candace Scott, of Arkansas. She, in turn, stole the parts — which are the property of the University Arkansas — from a mortuary, police said.

The majority of the remains Pauley had in his basement were legally obtained, his attorney Jonathan White told Masland. But for those that were not, Pauley took responsibility by pleading guilty.

White said Pauley is very educated in skeletal and human remains, and that he takes the time to try to share that education with others.

Masland acknowledged that the facts, however, don’t lead others toward a different response.

“To many the facts are disturbing,” Masland said. “To many more, they are abhorrent.”

Masland also acknowledged Pauley’s unconventional appearance and said he would not treat Pauley differently.

White indicated the majority of Pauley’s punishment would come at the federal level; Pauley is still waiting on a sentencing date for the federal case, which addresses the interstate angle of the human remains’ path from the University of Arkansas.

Pauley initially told police when he was questioned in June that he was a collector of oddities and that the human parts he owned — three full skeletons and 15 to 20 human skulls — were legally purchased.

Police found three- to five-gallon buckets containing various human remains, including two brains, skin, a heart, kidney, spleen, fat, skull with hair, two livers, six pieces of skin and fat, a trachea, two lungs, and a child mandible with teeth when they executed a search warrant.

Jeremy Pauley, who pleaded guilty to buying and selling body parts, has arrived at the Cumberland County Courthouse for sentencing.

I’ll have more coming up on @WGAL. pic.twitter.com/Kl1uAsXWkl

— Tom Lehman (@TomLehmanWGAL) March 5, 2024

Pauley also bought half of a head, a whole head missing a skull cap, three brains with a skull cap, a heart, a liver, a lung, two kidneys, a female pelvis, a piece of skin with a nipple and four hands from Scott for $4,000, police said.

Scott sent that shipment through the United States Postal Service, which was intercepted by the postal service, FBI Scranton and state police, according to Pauley’s criminal complaint.

Prosecutors did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.