A former Harvard Medical School morgue manager has pleaded guilty to allegedly stealing and selling donated body parts.
On Wednesday, Cedric Lodge, 57, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of stolen human remains before Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
The maximum penalty under federal law is ten years in prison, supervised release, and a fine.
The judge imposes a sentence following a finding of guilt after “consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the federal sentencing guidelines,” according to the release.
Lodge admitted to selling and transporting human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School’s morgue in Massachusetts between 2018 and March 2020.
According to the release, Lodge, then-manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue, removed human remains such as organs, brains, skin, hands, faces, dissected heads, and other parts from donated cadavers after they had been used for research and teaching purposes but before they could be disposed of in accordance with the donor and the school’s anatomical gift donation agreement.
He took the remains to his home in New Hampshire without permission or knowledge from his employer, donors, or their families.
According to the release, after selling the remains, he and his wife would ship them to buyers in other states, or the buyer would take possession and transport the remains themselves.
Lodge sold stolen remains for profit to locations in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.
“Cedric Lodge’s criminal actions were morally reprehensible and a disgraceful betrayal of the individuals who altruistically chose to will their bodies to Harvard Medical School’s Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research,” Harvard Medical School Dean George Daley said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“While Lodge has agreed to plead guilty and taken responsibility for his crimes, this likely provides little consolation to the families impacted,” the mayor said. “We continue to express our deep compassion to all those affected.”
Several defendants charged in related cases pleaded guilty and received sentences of approximately one year in prison.
Denise Lodge and Joshua Taylor are still awaiting sentence.
The case was investigated by the FBI, USPS, and East Pennsboro Township Police Department in Pennsylvania.
