The morgue manager at Harvard Medical School and six others are accused of stealing and selling human remains from several mortuaries (Picture: Getty Images)
A Harvard Medical School morgue manager and six others allegedly stole human remains from mortuaries and sold them for profit.
Cedric Lodge, 55, managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at prestigious Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts. From 2018 to 2022, Lodge stole organs and other cadaver parts that were donated for medical research and education before their scheduled cremations, alleged the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
Lodge sometimes took the stolen remains from Boston to his home in Goffstown, New Hampshire, and he and his wife Denise Lodge, 63, sold them to Katrina Maclean, 44, Joshua Taylor, 46, and others, according to the US Attorney’s office.
The morgue manager is also accused of letting Maclean and Taylor into the Harvard school mortuary to look at the cadavers and decide what they wanted to buy.
An investigation was conducted and determined that Jeremy Pauley was purchasing human body parts from a female in Arkansas (Picture: Facebook/Jeremy Lee Pauley)
Cedric did a combination of personally transporting and shipping the remains to Taylor and people in other states, said the US Attorney’s office.
‘Some crimes defy understanding,’ stated US Attorney Gerard Karam.
‘The theft and trafficking of human remains strikes at the very essence of what makes us human.
‘It is particularly egregious that so many of the victims here volunteered to allow their remains to be used to educate medical professionals and advance the interests of science and healing.’
Jeremy Lee Pauley allegedly sold human remains on Facebook for monetary gain (Picture: East Pennsboro Township Police Department)
Maclean and Taylor allegedly resold the remains for profit to Jeremy Pauley, 41, who is also accused of buying remains that Candace Chapman Scott stole from her employer, a mortuary and crematorium in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Among the remains that Scott allegedly stole were the corpses of two stillborn babies who were to be cremated and returned to their families, the US attorney’s office stated.
Pauley allegedly sold stolen remains he bought from others including Matthew Lampi, 52. Pauley and Lampi sold and bought from each other and exchanged more than $100,000 in payments online, according to the US Attorney’s office.
‘The defendants violated the trust of the deceased and their families all in the name of greed,’ stated FBI Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire.
‘While today’s charges cannot undo the unfathomable pain this heinous crime has caused, the FBI will continue to work tirelessly to see that justice is served.’
The Lodges; Maclean of Salem, Massachusetts; Taylor of West Lawn, Pennsylvania; Pauley of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania; Scott of Little Rock, Arkansas; and Lampi of East Bethel, Minnesota, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods. In addition, Pauley was charged by criminal information.
Under federal law, the maximum penalty is 15 years in prison.
Using the US mail to facilitate the theft and shipping of human remains is a federal crime and the Postal Inspection Service ‘will do everything in its power to stop it’, stated Christopher Nielsen, the inspector overseeing the Philadelphia division.
‘Robbing families of the remains of their loved ones is an unconscionable act,’ said Nielsen, ‘And confounds our collective sense of decency.’
The US Attorney’s office is continuing in efforts to identify victims and contact their families.
Anyone who believes a family member may have been affected is urged to contact the US Attorney’s Office’s victim and witness unit.
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The Harvard Medical School morgue manager and six others allegedly profited from stealing and selling human remains.