Wake the Lakes “Weird and Wacky Wednesday” 7-19-23

When FBI agents arrived at James Nott’s Kentucky apartment with a search warrant on Tuesday, July 11th, they asked if anyone else was home. “Only my dead friends,” Nott replied. That’s according to the FBI, who in a criminal complaint detailed 40 human skulls and other remains they found decorating Nott’s home, tying him to a ring of people allegedly buying and selling human body parts illegally – including a Harvard Medical School morgue manager, who is accused of stealing cadaver parts. The skulls were spread around Nott’s house; one had a headscarf wrapped around it and another was found on the mattress where he slept, according to the complaint. The agents also found spinal cords, femurs, hip bones and a Harvard Medical School bag, according to the affidavit submitted by the FBI. Nott has not been charged with crimes connected with the body parts. But he is facing a federal charge of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person due to his status as a convicted felon. In 2011, Nott pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device, after being found with a detonation cord, igniting devices, timed fuses and other materials that could be used to assemble “a destructive device,” the complaint states. It all started last summer, when the police in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, received a tip about possible human remains located at the home of a man named Jeremy Pauley, according to the complaint. Officers searched his home in Enola, Pennsylvania, and found organs and skin, among other human remains, the FBI said. During the FBI investigation, Pauley told agents about a network of people buying and selling stolen human body parts. The investigation revealed one of those people was Cedric Lodge, who worked in a Harvard Medical School morgue, where he allegedly stole cadaver body parts to sell online, the FBI said. Lodge was fired in May and is facing federal charges for stealing, selling and shipping the body parts, according to an indictment filed last month in US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Through Facebook messages, officials connected Nott to Pauley and the ring of people allegedly engaged in the illegal trade of body parts, according to the criminal complaint. Officials say in their search of Nott’s Mount Washington, Kentucky home, they also found multiple weapons, including an AK-47 rifle.Nott is being held without bail, and his arraignment is set for August 4.