Tattoo artist sentenced to prison for trafficking human remains (2025)

A Minnesota tattoo artist and human remains aficionado was sentenced to 15 months in prison for adding the stolen corpse of a stillborn baby boy to his collection, among other smuggled body parts, federal officials announced Friday.Matthew Lampi, the longtime owner of a tattoo parlor outside Minneapolis, pleaded guilty and was sentenced for buying, trading and selling stolen human remains, including “hearts, brains, an arm and a pair of ‘smoker’s lungs,’” according to federal court filings in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.The 50-year-old is the latest to be sentenced in a network of human remains smugglers that stretched from the morgue of the Harvard University Medical School to an Arkansas mortuary.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThousands of dollars and numerous types of human body parts were exchanged in the trafficking ring between 2018 and 2022, according to federal indictments.

Matthew Lampi, the longtime owner of a tattoo parlor outside Minneapolis, pleaded guilty and was sentenced for buying, trading and selling stolen human remains, including “hearts, brains, an arm and a pair of ‘smoker’s lungs,’” according to federal court filings in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The 50-year-old is the latest to be sentenced in a network of human remains smugglers that stretched from the morgue of the Harvard University Medical School to an Arkansas mortuary.

Thousands of dollars and numerous types of human body parts were exchanged in the trafficking ring between 2018 and 2022, according to federal indictments. Lampi paid $1,550 and traded five human skulls for Lux, the stillborn baby boy that was stolen from an Arkansas mortuary, the indictment says. Collectors tend to call the body parts as well as remains of non-human specimens “oddities.”

“After 40 years doing this business, I thought I saw it all,” said Joe D’Andrea, Lampi’s attorney. “I didn’t know there was an underworld of people who collected oddities and a lot of the oddity collection is body parts.”

Tattoo artist sentenced to prison for trafficking human remains (1)

D’Andrea added: “There are people who - for whatever their reasons are - desire to collect them. The problem this case had was they were stolen and that’s where the crime came in.”See AlsoTattoo and Body Art: Key Differences and Similarities

Chief Judge Matthew W. Brann also ordered Lampi to pay a $2,000 fine and $1,700 in restitution to Lux’s mother, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Candace Chapman Scott, the Arkansas woman who stole Lux’s remains, pleaded guilty and is expected to be sentenced next week, according to her lawyer, George Morledge. Jeremy Pauley, a Pennsylvania resident who bought Lux from Scott for $300 to sell to Lampi also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

In addition to Scott, Pauley sourced body parts from Cedric Lodge, who managed Harvard’s morgue, according to federal authorities. Denise Lodge pleaded guilty last February to helping her husband traffic body parts, according to court filings.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Dawn Clark, a spokesperson for the United States Postal Inspection Service, which participated in the investigation, declined to comment.

‘I want faces’: Inside the stolen remains trade

Lampi’s trade in stolen human remains with Pauley dates back to at least 2018, according to court filings. He knew the body parts were stolen, a federal indictment says. The tattoo artist also traded other human remains for the body parts. He and Pauley exchanged over $100,000 during the course of their trading, the indictment says.

The body parts Lampi bought and traded for came from the Arkansas mortuary Scott stole them from and shipped to Pauley in Pennsylvania, according to the indictment.

“Four more brains, three hearts…” Pauley wrote to Lampi. The Pennsylvania body parts dealer also offered male genitalia and a “perfect” lung.

Pauley used Paypal to send money to Scott, who shipped the body parts in boxes through the mail.

“Going to pack your brain and heart tonight, arm isn’t here yet,” Pauley wrote in one text to Lampi. “Arm isn’t here yet but I’ll send it out as soon as it arrives.”

The indictment includes messages Lampi sent to Pauley.

“When are wets next month,” Lampi asked, using a term to refer to organs or stillborn babies. “I want faces,” he added.

Collection included ‘a customer’s toe’

Lampi has had a human remains collection as far back as 2008, according to an interview with Big Tattoo Planet. The online magazine interviewed him regarding his work as the owner of Get to the Point Tattoos in White Bear Lake, around 15 miles outside Minneapolis.

The tattoo magazine interview came eight years after he opened the parlor, according to Minnesota business licensing records.

“Matt’s enthusiasm for the unconventional takes his work into some ‘interesting’ territory,” the author says.

“When I am not tattooing or designing, I collect items,” Lampi was quoted saying. His collection, he said, consists of “human skulls, a mortician’s make-up kit (previously used of course) and a customer’s toe.”

Videos and photos posted to the studio’s Facebook page showed sculptures Lampi made from remains and human skulls.

“Plenty to look at while you get a tattoo,” one post said.

More: Bones used as decor in home of Kentucky man linked to Harvard Medical School human remains scheme

Michael Loria is a national reporter on the USA TODAY breaking news desk. Contact him at [email protected], @mchael_mchael or on Signal at (202) 290-4585.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tattoo artist sentenced for collecting stolen stillborn baby

Tattoo artist sentenced to prison for trafficking human remains (2025)

‘I want faces’: Inside the stolen remains trade

Collection included ‘a customer’s toe’

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