Two Florida women were arrested last week over accusations they bought human bones and sold them on Facebook Marketplace.
Kymberlee Schopper, 52, and Ashley Lelesi, 32, are the mother-and-daughter proprietors of Wicked Wonderland, an antique store in Orange City, Florida. In December 2023, the Orange City Police Department received a report from a civilian that the business was selling bones.
On the Wicked Wonderland website, officers saw two fragments of a human skull selling for $90, a human collarbone and shoulder blade going for $90, a human rib and vertebrae being sold for $35 each and a partial human skull on sale for $600, according to a nonarrest affidavit.
When questioned at the store by police, Ms. Lelesi said Wicked Wonderland sold bones for years and she was unaware that’s illegal in Florida. She mentioned that the store bought bone fragments from private sellers.
Some of the items, including the partial skull, were given to the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s Office for testing. In February, OCPD met with Ms. Schopper and Ms. Lelesi.
Ms. Schopper said the store was familiar with the laws and that only viable tissues are covered, allowing for the sale of educational models. She said the bones sold by Wicked Wonderland were models and claimed to have spoken to members of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, though she didn’t provide any names.
The VCMEO found that while the cervical vertebra was possibly from an anatomical model, some of the other bones were probably of an archaeological origin, according to the affidavit.
Carbon dating on two of the samples found that one dated back to around the 14th century, while another dated back over 100 years.
A warrant was put out for the arrest of Ms. Schopper and Ms. Lelesi on April 7, charging them with the purchase and sale of human organs or tissue. They were arrested Thursday and Friday, respectively, and are due back in court for an arraignment on May 1. Both have since bonded out on $7,500 each.
Wicked Wonderland posted on Facebook that it’s closed until Friday.
