Harvard morgue manager accused of selling stolen body parts, including heads, brains, bones
06/15/2023 11:44 am PDT
SCRANTON, Pa. (TCD) -- A former Harvard Medical School morgue manager and four others are being charged with allegedly stealing, selling, and transporting body parts across state lines in what has become an ongoing multistate investigation.
On Wednesday, June 14, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a federal grand jury indicted Cedric Lodge, 55, Katrina Maclean, 44, Joshua Taylor, 46, Denise Lodge, 63, and Mathew Lampi, 52, on charges of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods. Two others, 41-year-old Jeremy Pauley and 36-year-old Candace Scott, were previously indicted on similar charges.
According to the Attorney’s Office, Harvard Medical School and a mortuary in Arkansas sold stolen human remains to a "nationwide network of individuals."
From 2018 through 2022, Cedric Lodge, a former morgue manager for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School, reportedly stole body parts, including heads, brains, skin, and bones, that were donated for medical research and education before their scheduled cremations. The Attorney’s Office alleges Lodge transported the stolen body parts to his home in New Hampshire. His wife, Denise Lodge, allegedly sold the remains to Katrina Maclean and Joshua Taylor via phone and social media sites.
Taylor and Maclean allegedly went to the Harvard Medical School morgue, where they would "examine cadavers and choose what to purchase." Taylor allegedly brought the remains back to Pennsylvania with her from time to time.
According to the Attorney’s Office, Cedric and Denise Lodge sometimes shipped body parts to buyers out of state.
Maclean and Taylor allegedly resold the remains to other people, including Jeremy Pauley. Pauley reportedly bought human remains from another defendant, Scott, who allegedly stole the remains from a mortuary in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she worked.
According to the Attorney’s Office, Scott allegedly "stole parts of cadavers she was supposed to have cremated, many of which had been donated to and used for research and educational purposes by an area medical school."
She also reportedly stole "the corpses of two stillborn babies who were supposed to be cremated and returned as cremains to their families."
After purchasing the remains, Pauley reportedly sold many of them to other people, including Lampi. The Attorney’s Office alleges that Lampi and Pauley purchased and sold from each other for a long period of time and "exchanged over $100,000 in online payments."
The defendants face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, as well as supervised release and a fine, the Attorney’s Office said.
The Attorney’s Office is working to find and notify victims and victims’ families affected by the case.
Pauley and Scott previously pleaded not guilty.
Harvard Medical School (HMS) Dean George Q. Daley wrote in a statement that officials have been working with federal authorities as they continue to investigate. Daley said, "Lodge worked in the morgue as part of the Anatomical Gift Program until HMS terminated his employment on May 6."
Daley said the other defendants are not affiliated with Harvard.
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