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Arkansas Woman Pleads Not Guilty To Selling 20 Boxes Of Stolen Human Body Parts On Facebook

Public/Screenshot/Website — fox43.com

Kate Hirzel Contributor
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An Arkansas woman pleaded not guilty to selling 20 boxes of human body parts on Facebook for nearly $11,000, local news outlet FOX43 reports.

Candace Chapman Scott was formerly employed at Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, which contracted with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) to cremate the medical school’s cadavers used by students, FOX43 reported Monday. 

Pennsylvania resident Jeremy Lee Pauley was charged separately with abuse of a corpse, receiving stolen property and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities after allegedly purchasing the human remains from Scott, according to the outlet.(RELATED: Major University Police Chief, Provost Depart Amid Safety Concerns After Professor Killed)

Scott, 36, pleaded not guilty to 12 counts, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and interstate transportation of stolen property, FOX39 reported. She allegedly sold fetuses, brains, hearts, lungs and genitalia to Pauley over the course of nine months, eventually obtaining nearly $11,000 in her PayPal account, according to the outlet. 

Scott allegedly first messaged Pauley on Facebook in October 2021. “I follow your page and work and LOVE it. I’m a mortician and work at a trade service mortuary, so we are contracted through the medical hospital here in Little Rock to cremate their cadavers when the medical students are done with them before they discard them in a cremation garden,” The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported, citing the unsealed indictment. “Just out of curiosity, would you know anyone in the market for a fully in tact [sic], embalmed brain?”

“When the FBI informed us and the owners of the crematorium of this crime, they immediately fired the employee and cooperated fully in the investigation,” UAMS spokesperson Leslie Taylor told the Gazette. “This is no indication anyone else is involved.”

“Body parts were being sent through the mail and that those body parts may not be legal, they may be, for lack of a better term, stolen,” Cumberland County District Attorney Sean McCormack told FOX39. “Which winds up being the basis in court for this particular case.”