Arkansas woman Candace Scott, a former mortuary worker, was charged with 12 counts in connection with allegedly selling stolen body parts, authorities said. She has pleaded not guilty.
A former mortuary worker in Arkansas has been indicted on federal charges in connection with allegedly selling stolen body parts including fetuses and brains to a Pennsylvania man, authorities said.
Candace Scott, 36, pleaded not guilty to 12 counts including mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, and interstate transportation of stolen property, according to a federal indictment unsealed Friday.
Scott is in custody pending a bail hearing scheduled for Tuesday, authorities said.
The woman is accused of selling about $11,000 worth of body parts to a man in Pennsylvania she met through a Facebook group devoted to "oddities," authorities said.
The man, Jeremy Pauley of East Pennsboro Township, was arrested last year for allegedly purchasing body parts such as lungs, hearts, brains and fetuses, police said. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on $50,000 bond, according to online records.
His next scheduled court appearance is a preliminary hearing on June 7.
Scott was employed at Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, where she worked cremating, embalming and transporting human remains, authorities said. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock said last year the facility receives cadavers and remains for medical students to autopsy.
Scott allegedly contacted Pauley in October 2021 and offered to sell him remains, the indictment alleges, CBS News reported.
"Just out of curiosity, would you know anyone in the market for a fully intact, embalmed brain?" Scott wrote to Pauley in a Facebook message, the indictment contends.
Scott collected $10,975 in 16 PayPal transfers, the indictment alleged.
U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Thomas Ray called the alleged conduct "shocking and depraved," but told prosecutors, who requested that Scott be held without bail until trial, that she could only be ordered to remain jailed if she is deemed a flight risk, CBS News reported.
Pennsylvania authorities discovered the alleged scheme last year after responding to reports of human remains at Pauley's home. Investigators found 5-gallon containers of various body parts, they said.
"This is one of the most bizarre investigations I have encountered in my thirty-three years as a prosecutor. Just when I think I have seen it all, a case like this comes around," District Attorney Sean McCormack said in a statement then.
Related Stories
