Prison for Minnesota tattoo artist who trafficked in stolen human remains

A onetime White Bear Lake tattoo artist is on his way to prison for trafficking in stolen human remains, including those of a stillborn baby thought by his mother to have been cremated.

Mathew Lampi, 53, of East Bethel, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania last week to 1¼ years in prison after pleading guilty to interstate transport of stolen goods. He participated in a nationwide network that prosecutors say bought and sold body parts from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary.

Along with prison time, Lampi’s sentence includes a fine of $2,000 and an order that he and one of his accomplices pay $1,700 in restitution to the mother of the stillborn baby, whose remains he purchased. He’s scheduled to report on Feb. 3 for imprisonment.

Lampi owned Get to the Point Tattoos, which operated in the 3600 block of White Bear Avenue in White Bear Lake. Another tattoo business now occupies that space.

Prosecutors said Lampi and cohorts “stole dead babies and parts of cadavers and turned them into ‘stock,’ buying and selling pieces of deceased people advertising their dark wares and creating a marketplace for this sick trade.”

Lampi’s business activities in Minnesota included buying and selling what he called antiques, but “in reality, includes in substantial part human remains such as bones, skulls, organs and fetal corpses.” At one time, he acknowledged 25 human skulls among his personal assets.

In its filing, the prosecution, which sought a two-year sentence, recounted Lampi’s purchase of the remains of the baby, whose name was Lux:

“Lux’s mother was looking forward to his birth and was devastated when he died after a premature labor. She had a pendant made from his ashes and treasured that memento of the child she never got to know. But it was a lie; the ashes she was given were not the cremains of her lost baby boy.

“She grieved all over again when notified that her son had been stolen and sold as part of this macabre, underworld trade. To Lampi’s credit, he did eventually turn over Lux’s body so he could be returned to his mother for proper disposition, after the FBI came knocking. But the harm was already caused.”

Defense attorney Joseph D’Andrea wrote in a counterfiling that his client’s sentence should be no more than probation with home detention.

Lampi was a “minor participant in this elaborate buying and selling of human body parts,” D’Andrea argued. “[He] simply was a collector. ... His passion for his collection caused him to cross the line and [he] eventually purchased certain items that were known to be stolen.”

According to court records, from 2018 through 2022, Cedric Lodge, of Goffstown, N.H., then morgue manager for Harvard Medical School’s anatomical gifts program, stole organs and other body parts of cadavers donated for medical research and education. Lodge and his wife, Denise Lodge, sold the remains, sometimes allowing buyers into the morgue to examine cadavers.

Among the buyers was Jeremy Pauley of Bloomsburg, Pa., a self-described preservationist of “retired medical specimens and curator to historic remains.” Pauley sold many of the remains he purchased; Lampi was identified as a buyer. He also reportedly sold other items to Pauley.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock allowed people to donate their bodies after death for medical education, teaching and research. Candace Chapman Scott, a mortician at the mortuary, stole parts of cadavers she was supposed to have cremated, but she sold and shipped some of the remains to Pauley. The body parts included bones, skulls, skin, stillborn babies, dissected faces and heads, and internal organs.

Pauley then resold some of the cadaver parts to others around the country, including Lampi.

In December 2021, Scott and Pauley negotiated a sale: “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.” Pauley paid her $1,600 via PayPal, then told Lampi he had hearts and brains coming. Lampi agreed to buy three body parts for $4,000.

“Update on parts?” Lampi wrote on Facebook Messenger five days after they agreed to the deal. Pauley wrote back: “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!”

A couple months later, the two agreed to a trade: Pauley would send Lampi a stolen stillborn baby in exchange for five human skulls. In total, they exchanged more than $100,000 in online payments as they bought and sold from each other.

Pauley and Scott have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Lodge’s case remains pending.