Ex-Mortuary Worker in Arkansas Accused of Selling Stolen Fetus, Human Remains on Facebook for $11,000

A woman in Arkansas was arrested after she sold 20 boxes of human body parts to a man via an “oddities” Facebook group, authorities said.

A recently unsealed April 5 indictment filed in federal court in Little Rock claims former mortuary worker Candace Chapman Scott, 36, made $11,000 selling human remains to Jeremy Lee Pauley, documents show, Fox News reported.

Scott entered a not-guilty plea after she was charged with multiple crimes, 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, according to Fox.

The indictment alleges Scott first met Pauley through the Facebook group and sent him a message in October 2021. “Just out of curiosity, would you know anyone in the market for a fully [intact], embalmed brain?” she asked, the indictment claims.

Over the course of the following nine months, according to the indictment, the mortuary worker then sold Pauley everything from brains, lungs, genitalia and hearts to fetuses and she received a total of $10,975 in PayPal transfers in return.

According to officials, Scott was employed at a funeral home, Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, and her job entailed handling remains used by medical school students at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

Scott was being held in jail and is expected in court for a bail hearing on May 2.

U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Thomas Ray called the allegations laid out against Scott in the indictment “shocking and depraved.”

Pauley faces charges in Pennsylvania that include abuse of a corpse, receiving stolen property, and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, Fox reported.

He was released on bail and is expected to appear next in court on June 7.