A Pennsylvania man, Jeremy Lee Pauley, has been arrested on charges of abuse of a corpse, receiving stolen property, and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities for allegedly trying to purchase human remains stolen from a mortuary, police announced Thursday.
“Human remains were located in Enola, Arkansas and Scranton. Those human remains were being sold on Facebook for monetary gain. Pauley was arrested and released on $50,000 dollars unsecured bail,” police said. (RELATED: ‘A Scandal Of Epic Proportions’: Judge Orders Two Fellow Judges To Pay $200 Million Over ‘Kids-For-Cash’ Scandal)
Pauley, Jeremy Lee – abuse of corpse and 2 additional charges https://t.co/vfOR0kD2G7
— E. Pennsboro (@eastpennsboropd) August 18, 2022
Reports of “suspicious activity” were connected to Enola in June. An investigation between East Pennsboro Township Police, FBI Harrisburg, FBI Scranton, FBI Arkansas, Arkansas State Police and other law enforcement groups ensued. They discovered skeletons and other human remains in Pauley’s home — including those of children.
ABC6 says Pauley described himself as a collector of “oddities.” He allegedly sought to purchase human remains from an Enola woman and reportedly told investigators he intended to resell the body parts after agreeing to pay the Arkansas woman $4,000 on Facebook Marketplace.
“We are very respectful of those who donate their bodies, and we are appalled that such a thing could happen,” a spokeswoman at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock told The AP.
“I think I’ve seen it all, and then something like this comes around,” Sean McCormack, district attorney for Cumberland County, Pennsylvania said, according to ABC6. “The question we had to answer was, Is the sale of body parts or bones and remains illegal … or legal? Some of it, to our surprise, was legal. And as the investigation went on, it became clear there was illegal activity going on as well.”