A man accused of stealing and/or dealing in body parts stolen from morgues at Harvard Medical School has defended himself against government claims that he was "callous" and looked upon stolen cadavers as "stock".
In a recent filing in the US Middle District Court, Jeremy K. Pauley, 42, formerly of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania , responded to a government allegation that "he does not see human beings in repose; he sees dollar signs."
It is part of an ongoing debate about whether the value of unlawfully acquired human remains meets the legal definition of loss, reports PennLive.
This is a crucial topic for Pauley, as the severity of his sentence on his guilty plea to charges of transportation of stolen property across state lines and conspiracy to do the same is based on the court's decision .
Pauley is among seven persons blamed for the theft and trading in body parts snatched from morgues at Harvard Medical School and a facility in Arkansas associated with the University of Arkansas for Medical Science. Two others have confessed, pleading guilt to trading stolen body parts taken from a Kansas hospital in a different case.
Pauley maintains that while the stolen body parts are valuable, they do not represent a monetary loss as outlined by case law. He asserts that since a living person cannot be bid on, bought, or sold, neither can deceased body parts.
Pauley's other argument is that the medical schools , which received donated remains through their anatomical gifts programmes for educational use, did not suffer a loss as they were never the true owners of them.
He argues that the donors did not suffer a financial loss as they knew the end result was that the remains would be disposed of by the school or cremated and the ashes returned to them.
The government, in support of its loss argument, cites Pauley telling investigators that buying and selling human remains is his livelihood and he made $180,000 doing so in 2022.
Pauley claims that this figure is not solely from items mentioned in the indictment and that he also trades in various antiques. Pauley was described in the filing as a student , educator, and collector of human body parts, oddity antiques, and items within the oddities community.
"To accuse Pauley of viewing these human beings as anything less than human strikes at the heart of his mission in the oddities community," Pauley's lawyer stated.
Pauley will express the emotional impact his actions have had on others at sentencing. The prosecutor insisted there is a market for these human remains because people are willing to pay large sums of money for them.
A hearing on the loss issue is scheduled for August 6.
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