The Harvard Medical School morgue manager was indicted along with his wife and several others for trafficking human remains stolen from the school in a nationwide scheme.
A federal jury indicted Harvard Medical school Morgue Manager Cedric Lodge and his wife, Denise Lodge, as well as their coconspirators Katrina Maclean, Joshua Taylor, and Mathew Lampi, among others named.
They were charged on counts of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods.
According to a statement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the individuals formed a cross-country network that purchased and sold stolen human remains from the Harvard Medical School and a mortuary located in Arkansas, including at least two known instances of fetal remains.
“Some crimes defy understanding,” US Attorney Gerard Karam said in a statement. “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.”
Documents Detail the Ghastly Scheme
According to the indictments, Lodge transported organs and other human remains to his residence in New Hampshire.
He then coordinated with his wife to sell the parts to Maclean and Taylor using phone calls and social media communications.
The document goes on to reveal how Lodge would occasionally let Maclean and Taylor into the school morgue to “choose what to purchase.”
Taylor would sometimes drive purchased remains back to Pennsylvania, but often Lodge would mail the human body parts to Taylor and the other indicted individuals.
Taylor and Mclean would then resell the parts for profit to others, including Jeremy Pauley who himself resold the parts to Lampi.
Pauley purchased the corpses of at least two babies who were stillborn whose remains were meant to be cremated and returned to their families. He reportedly sold the remains for profit.
Pauley also bought human remains from another seller, Candace Chapman Scott, who worked in an Arkansas mortuary.
Pauley was also charged for his parts in the scheme, while Scott has already been indicted in the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Those charged face up to 15 years in prison.
