The morgue’s manager is accused of stealing organs and other body parts before their scheduled cremations and transporting them to his home in New Hampshire, federal prosecutors said.
A former Harvard Medical School morgue manager pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges related to a scheme to steal and sell donated human remains.
Cedric Lodge, 57, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, entered his plea to interstate transport of stolen human remains before Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Lodge admitted to participating in the theft and sale of body parts from 2018 through at least March 2020, while employed at the Harvard Medical School morgue in Massachusetts. Officials say he took remains to his New Hampshire home without the knowledge or consent of the school, the donors, or their families.
Lodge and his wife then sold the remains, shipping them across state lines or transferring them directly to buyers.
“While Lodge has agreed to plead guilty and taken responsibility for his crimes, this likely provides little consolation to the families impacted,” said U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam. “We continue to express our deep compassion to all those affected.”
The federal charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, supervised release, and a fine. Several others charged in related cases have received about a year in prison. Denise Lodge and Joshua Taylor await sentencing.