Matt Lampi: Minnesota tattoo parlor owner indicted for bizarre cadaver parts theft and trafficking
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
WHITE BEAR LAKE, MINNESOTA: Matt Lampi, the 52-year-old owner of 'Get to the Point' tattoo parlor in White Bear Lake, has agreed to plead guilty to charges related to the buying and selling of cadaver parts over four years from 2018 to 2022.
The unsettling case involves a national scheme that allegedly sourced body parts from renowned institutions like Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas Mortuary.
Timeline of Matt Lampi's trade of cadaver parts
Lampi's involvement in the dark trade was unveiled in a recent indictment filed in US District Court in Pennsylvania, where he has agreed to plead guilty. The charges primarily revolve around the interstate transport of stolen goods.
According to prosecutors, Lampi purchased body parts from Cedric Lodge, the morgue manager for Harvard Medical School's anatomical gifts program. He and his wife, Denise Lodge, reportedly sold cadaver parts to various individuals across the United States, including Jeremy Pauley of Pennsylvania.
The bizarre transactions involved Pauley buying body parts from a mortician named Candace Chapman Scott, who worked at The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. Shockingly, the list of items purchased included bones, skulls, skin, whole stillborn babies, dissected faces and heads, and internal organs.
The unsettling bargain between Matt Lampi and Jeremy Pauley
Pauley, in one transaction, paid Scott $1,600 through PayPal for a macabre assortment, including "2 brains, one with skullcap, 3 hearts one cut, 2 fake boobies, one large belly button piece of skin, one arm, one huge piece of skin, and one lung," according to court documents.
Following this sale in December 2021, Pauley communicated with Lampi on Facebook, where the tattoo artist agreed to purchase three items for $4,000. Lampi later inquired about the progress, prompting Pauley to respond, "Going to pack up your brain and heart tonight, arm isn't here yet but I'll send it out as soon as it arrives!"
Attorney Gerard M Karam seeks justice for all victims
United States Attorney Gerard M Karam expressed his dismay over the case in a press release in June 2023, stating, “Some crimes defy understanding. The theft and trafficking of human remains strike at the very essence of what makes us human."
Karam continued, "It is particularly egregious that so many of the victims here volunteered to allow their remains to be used to educate medical professionals and advance the interests of science and healing. With these charges, we are seeking to secure some measure of justice for all these victims," as per The Sun.
In an even more disturbing turn of events, a few months later, Lampi and Pauley allegedly agreed to trade a stolen stillborn baby for five human skulls, as outlined in the indictment. Lampi has since been released from incarceration, and his sentencing is yet to be scheduled.
Lampi and Pauley are the only two individuals involved in this gruesome trade who have agreed to plead guilty, while the outcomes for other defendants remain uncertain. Joseph D'Andrea, Lampi's attorney, emphasized that his client has been living a model life since his release.
