Value of human body parts becomes sentencing issue in federal trafficking case

WILLIAMSPORT — Do the body parts of a deceased human being have value in a legal sense?

This issue surfaced in a federal criminal case in which individuals were accused of buying and selling stolen human remains.

Jeremy K. Pauley, the former Cumberland County resident who pleaded guilty, raises the issue of loss because it will affect his sentence.

In a brief filed Thursday in U.S. Middle District Court, he asks “whether human remains can have value, and if so, who suffers the loss and what is the appropriate measure of value.”

He asserts that there is no “actual loss” since the property in question is human remains of the deceased.

His plea agreement says the value of the human remains he dealt with exceeded $5,000.

Guilty plea agreements signed in May by two co-defendants put the loss at between $6,500 and $15,000.

The former East Pennsboro Township. resident admitted in 2021 and 2022, he used Facebook to facilitate the buying and selling of body parts stolen from medical school morgues.

A year ago, when other indictments were handed down, the government said more than $100,000 was exchanged through online payments over an extended period under the Buy and Pay program. sale.

Pauley says his pre-sentence report, which is not public, indicates the amount of loss in his case cannot be reasonably determined and that the court should make an estimate.

Probation assessed a six-level increase in the sentencing guidelines that Pauley is fighting against.

He says there is no loss, but if a loss is determined, it does not justify a six-level increase.

Camp Hill attorney Jonathan R. White, who represents Pauley, asked Judge Matthew W. Brann to resolve the loss issue before sentencing.

He says Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean A. Camoni agrees on the importance of doing so.

White points out that objections to the loss amount will require a review of the majority of the more than 2.5 million pages of discovery and could require expert testimony.

Pauley, 41, who now lives in Susquehanna County, pleaded guilty last September to charges of interstate transportation of stolen property and conspiracy to commit the same crime.

The human remains came from Harvard Medical School and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Both schools use cadavers donated through anatomical donation programs for student teaching.

Once use of the corpses is complete, they are usually cremated and either returned to the donor or buried in a cemetery maintained for the purpose.

Cedric Lodge, former morgue director of Harvard's Anatomical Gifts Program, and Candace Chapman Scott, an employee at a Little Rock morgue, are accused of stealing the remains.

Lodge's wife, Denise Scott, who is being prosecuted in Arkansas, and Matthew Lampi of East Bethel, Minn., have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Four other people were also charged in connection with the scheme.

Pauley also pleaded guilty in Cumberland County Court. In March, he was placed on probation for two years.