The girlfriend of a heavily tattooed Pennsylvania man accused of involvement in the illegal trade in body parts claims he is an innocent historian who preserves human remains for the good of society.
Jeremy Pauley, 41, and five others have been charged with trafficking stolen human remains, including skulls, hearts, skins and dead babies.
Prosecutors say a nationwide network of people bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas morgue.
But Paulie’s girlfriend, Sophie Mae Vee, now claims he has a legitimate, legal, business preserving human parts for his museum.
‘Jeremy’s devotion to unusual antiques is as unconditional as his appearance, which is unfortunate in a situation where clickbait is as far reaching as the media,’ he wrote on Facebook.
Jeremy Pauley, 41, is accused of involvement in the illegal trade in human body parts. His girlfriend (pictured) claims he is an innocent historian
Sophie Mae Vee says Pauley has a legitimate business preserving human parts for his museum
In fact, buying and selling properly obtained human remains of adults is legal in almost every state, but trading in human fetuses is illegal.
‘Properly preserved remains are perfectly legal in states (except GA, TN and LA). As a preservationist of history, Jeremy restores retired remains to protect specimens from destruction – his museum is about education and restoration.’
In fact, buying and selling properly obtained human remains of adults is legal in almost every state, but trading in human embryos is illegal.
A website for Paoli’s museum, The Memento Mori, states that he is the ‘Lead Conservation Specialist of Retired Medical Specimens and Curator of Historical Relics and Artifacts.’
‘Through his work at the Conservation Institute, Jeremy works to create educational tools by reconstructing retired medical remains through plastination, corrosion casting, anatomical mounts and all methods of conservation and restoration.
‘Jeremy’s work at The Memento Mori Museum is to nurture a place where lost history is recovered and displayed with respect.’
The museum’s website features images of fetuses in glass jars and claims that Pauli recycles specimens deemed unusable that will be sold by companies that abuse them.
‘Due to the twisted nature of these companies, Jeremy devotes his time to preserving and restoring retired specimens for students to continue using – sourced from MD’s estate sales, medical facilities and museum donations,’ the website says.
Sophie, a self-described ‘artist of human blood’, says Jeremy was seduced by ‘a woman from Arkansas named Candice’.
Harvard morgue manager Cedric Lodge, 55, and Arkansas funeral home worker Candace Chapman Scott, 36, both face up to 15 years in prison for their alleged roles in a macabre underground network of stolen brains, hearts, skin and fetal remains.
An anonymous tip from someone [Pauley] According to Cumberland County District Attorney Sean McCormack, who gave investigators the key to the case, there was no dating.
The tipster told police what they believed to be human organs and human skin in a five-gallon bucket in the basement of Pauley’s home, three of which they recovered when they went to his home the same day.
After obtaining a search warrant, police also discovered two human brains, two lungs, a heart, two livers and a skull with hair.
A website for Paoli’s museum, The Memento Mori, states that he is the ‘chief conservation specialist of retired medical specimens and curator of historical relics and artifacts.’
Sophie, a self-described ‘artist of human blood’, says Jeremy was cheated on by ‘a woman from Arkansas named Candice’.
Harvard morgue manager Cedric Lodge (right), 55, and Arkansas funeral home worker Candace Chapman Scott, 36, both face up to 15 years in prison.
Over a nine-month period, Pauly allegedly paid Scott $10,975 for various body parts – a heart, brain, liver, kidney, trachea, ear, ‘two fake breasts’, lungs, skin, a penis, testicles, an entire head. and two embryos’.
Pauly is accused of reselling the remains he obtained to others, including tattoo artist Matthew Lampi.
Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota, and Paoli bought and sold from each other and exchanged more than $100,000 in online payments.
Federal court documents filed in Arkansas say Scott first reached out to Pauli in October 2021 with a message that read: ‘I follow your page and work and love it. I am a mortician and work in a trade service mortuary.
‘We have contracted with the Medical Hospital here in Little Rock to cremate their bodies when the medical students are done with them before they are dumped in the cremation garden.
‘Just out of curiosity, do you happen to know of any on the market completely intact [sic]Fragrant brain?’
His complaint states that he did not have an active mortician’s license at the time and was not authorized to cut organs, tissues or bones or dismember corpses.
He photographed the organs in his apartment and sent them to Paoli using the United States Postal Service, telling her on one occasion that an embryo was ‘not in good shape’ so it could be worth less, the complaint claims.
Court records show he has been held without bail since April and was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Pauley was previously arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse, receiving stolen property and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity.
He also sells bone dust dice as well as other macabre items from his collection online.
Pauly also makes bone and dust dominoes, which he sells on his Facebook page
Pauley also sold bone dust dice and other macabre items from his collection online with his girlfriend — who has not been charged.
In October 2020, Katrina McLean sold two severed faces and skins for $600 to Pauley, who was hired to tan the skin before sending it back to McLean.
A separate complaint in Pennsylvania claims Pauley spent $40,049 to buy body parts from Josh Taylor — who bought them from Cedric Lodge.
From at least April 2021 through January 2022, Taylor, of Pennsylvania, allegedly sold human remains to Paoli at high prices from the lodge.
Taylor pleaded not guilty to the charges in Pennsylvania last week and was released.
Lodge reportedly stole remains from corpses donated to the prestigious Harvard Medical School – where he had access as a morgue manager. He worked there from 1995 until his dismissal on May 6.
A federal indictment revealed that ‘occasionally’ he would take them to his home in New Hampshire and his wife Denise, 63, would ship the illegal products to others in their network using USPS.
The couple moved from their $385,000 four-bedroom, three-bathroom property in Manchester, Massachusetts, to a smaller three-bed, two-bath home in Goffstown, New Hampshire in 2020, where they allegedly continued their gruesome scheme.
Court documents state that Dennis shipped ‘stolen human remains’ from Manchester to Montgomery, Pennsylvania in 2018 and 2019.
Harvard is now working with federal authorities to determine which donors may be affected and has set up a hotline for donor families to access information and support.
The school emphasized that no other school employees are facing charges or suspected of any wrongdoing.
In a statement, George Q. Daly, Dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Medicine, described Lodge’s behavior as ‘an abominable betrayal’ and ‘morally reprehensible’.
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