A man from Thompson, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for buying and selling human remains.

Jeremy Pauley was sentenced to prison time on Monday by United States District Judge Matthew Brann for conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The judge also ordered Pauley to pay a $2,000 fine and serve three years on supervised release following his sentence.

The news release said the 43-year-old Pennsylvania man admitted to his role in a nationwide network of people who bought and sold human remains that were stolen from Harvard Medical School and a mortuary in Arkansas. Pauley, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, bought human remains from "multiple" people, knowing the remains were stolen. He also sold them, officials said. 

Pauley pleaded guilty to the federal charges in September 2023 and faced up to 15 years in prison.

"The trafficking of stolen human remains through the US Mail is a disturbing act that victimizes already grieving families while also creating a potentially hazardous situation for Postal employees and customers," said Christopher Nielsen, inspector in charge of the Philadelphia Division of the Postal Inspection Service, in the news release. 

As part of a nationwide investigation, multiple others were previously indicted in the theft and sale of human body parts, with several of them entering guilty pleas, according to Monday's news release. 

CBS affiliate WHP reported that Pauley owns an oddities store in Honesdale, Wayne County. He was first arrested in the summer of 2022 after investigators found 5-gallon buckets filled with human remains inside his home in Enola.