Arkansas mortuary worker sold boxes of body parts stolen from cadavers

Candace Chapman Scott worked at Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, a funeral home. Photo / Google Maps

A former Arkansas mortuary worker pleaded guilty to charges that she sold 24 boxes of stolen body parts from medical school cadavers to a Pennsylvania man for nearly US$11,000 ($18,000).

She was among several people charged recently in what prosecutors have called a nationwide scheme to steal and sell human body parts from an Arkansas mortuary and Harvard Medical School.

Candace Chapman Scott, 37, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property. She had pleaded not guilty when she was indicted last year in the case.

An indictment unsealed last year accused Scott of setting up the transactions with Jeremy Pauley, a Pennsylvania man she met through a Facebook group about “oddities.”

Jeremy Pauley. Photo / Supplied

In September, Pauley pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the theft and sale of the body parts from the Arkansas mortuary and Harvard.

Scott was employed at Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, where part of her job was to transport, cremate and embalm remains. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock has said that’s where the medical school sent remains of cadavers that had been donated for medical students to examine.

An attorney for Scott declined to comment.

Under a plea agreement with Scott, federal prosecutors dropped 10 other wire and mail charges sought against her. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to US$250,000 on the transporting stolen property charge. She also faces up to 20 years in prison and up to a US$250,000 fine on the mail fraud charge.

A sentencing date has not been scheduled.