Thompson Man Sentenced For Trafficking In Stolen Human Remains

Monday, December 29, 2025, 8:00 A.M. ET. 3 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

SCRANTON, PA.- Last Monday, a 43-year-old Thompson, Pennsylvania, man learned he would be spending the next six years in federal prison, after pleading guilty to trafficking in stolen human remains, including the corpses of two stillborn babies.

     According to U.S. Attorney Brian D. Miller, on Monday, December 22, 2025, Jeremy Pauley, 43, of Thompson, Pennsylvania, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Matthew W. Brann to 72 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to Conspiracy and Inrestate Transportation of Stolen Property.

     In addition to the term of imprisonment, Judge Brann ordered Pauley to pay a $2,000 fine upon his release from federal prison.

According To Court Documents

     According to documents and statements made in the District Court, Pauley admitted to his role in a nationwide network of individuals who bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary. Pauley purchased human remains from multiple individuals, knowing that those remains were stolen. Pauley additionally sold many of the stolen remains to others, including to ar least one who also knew that they had been stolen.  

     Previously, other individuals were also federally indicted for conspiracy and the transportation of stolen property as part of the interstate investigation. 

     From 2018 through 2022, Cedric Lodge, who managed the morgue at the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School, located in Boston, Massachusetts, stole organs and other parts of cadavers donated for medical research and education before their scheduled cremations. Lodge, at times, transported stolen remains from Boston to his residence in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Denise Lodge, sold the remains to Katrina Maclean, Joshua Taylor, and others, making arrangements via cell phone and social media websites. 

     At times, Cedric Lodge allowed Maclean and Taylor to enter the morgue at Harvard Medical School and examine cadavers to choose what they wanted to purchase. On some occasions, Taylor transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania. On other occasions, the Lodges shipped stolen remains to Taylor and others out of state.

     Maclean and Taylor sold the stolen remains for profit, including Jeremy Pauley in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Pauley also purchased stolen remains from Candace Chapman Scott, who stole remains from her employer, a Little Rock, Arkansas, mortuary and crematorium. Scott stole parts of cadavers she was supposed to have cremated, many of which had been donated to and used for research and educational purposes by an area medical school, as well as the corpses of two stillborn babies who were supposed to be cremated and returned as cremains to their families.

     Scott sold the stolen remains to Pauley and shipped them to Pauley in Thompson, Pennsylvania. Pauley sold many of the stolen remains he purchased to other individuals, including Matthew Lampi. Lampi and Pauley bought and sold from each other over an extended period and exchanged over $100,000 in online payments.

     Other individuals arrested and charged in the case have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to federal prison, and others have pleaded guilty and are currently awaiting sentencing.