Angelo Pereyra, Interstate Transport of Stolen Human Remains, Pennsylvania 2024

A Kansas man, Angelo Pereyra, 39, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the interstate transport of stolen human remains and body parts. The sentencing took place in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Pereyra pleaded guilty to a Criminal Information, admitting that between 2018 and 2022, he stole human remains and body parts from a Kansas hospital where he was employed as a pathology assistant and sold them. The stolen items included organs and portions of organs, amputated feet and toes, and other parts.

Some of the specimens Pereyra stole came from deceased individuals, while others came from living patients. Most egregiously, he stole the corpses of miscarried and stillborn fetuses before they could be properly buried.

Pereyra sold the stolen specimens to Andrew Ensanian, of Montgomery, Pennsylvania, and shipped them to him from Kansas via U.S. Postal Service. Ensanian previously entered a guilty plea to the same Information, and is awaiting sentencing.

The charges against Pereyra resulted from a multi-year investigation into the nationwide trafficking of stolen human remains. Multiple defendants have been charged previously in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and five have thus far entered guilty pleas. An additional defendant has been charged and convicted in Arkansas.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean A. Camoni is prosecuting the case.

Pereyra’s sentencing marks a significant development in the ongoing efforts to combat human remains trafficking. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania remains committed to holding accountable those who engage in such despicable crimes.