44°
Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, is charged with interstate transport of stolen goods — the goods being human body parts, according to the US Department of Justice. His wife, Denise Lodge, is also charged in the case.
Other members of the "nationwide network" who are also charged with interstate transport of stolen goods include:
- Katerina Maclean, age 44, of Salem, Massachusetts
- Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania.
- Mathew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota.
- Jeremy Pauley, 41, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.
- Candace Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Arkansas.
The sales of human remains — including two stillborn babies — happened between 2018 and 2022, according to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam.
Lodge, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School, is alleged to have stolen "organs and other parts of cadavers donated for medical research and education before their scheduled cremations," the prosecutor said.
Investigators said he would store the stolen body parts at his home until he could sell them to Maclean, Taylor, and others. They arranged the transactions over the phone or through social media sites, a news release said.
Harvard leaders called the accusations against Lodge "an abhorrent betrayal."
"We are so very sorry for the pain this news will cause for our anatomical donors’ families and loved ones, and (Harvard Medical School) pledges to engage with them during this deeply distressing time," the dean of the medical school said in a news release.
Lodge is also accused of allowing "Maclean and Taylor to enter the morgue at Harvard Medical School and examine cadavers to choose what to purchase. On some occasions, Taylor transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania. On other occasions, the Lodges shipped stolen remains to Taylor and others out of state," Karam explained.
Pauley not only purchased remains from Maclean and Taylor, but he also bought stolen human remains from Chapman Scott, who had stolen the remains from a mortuary in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she worked. She also sold the corpses of two stillborn babies, officials said.
Pauley then sold most of the stolen remains he purchased to other people, including Lampi. Lampi and Pauley bought and sold from each other multiple times totaling over $100,000 in online payments, according to the release.
United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam called the incident "appalling" and reprehensible.
Some crimes defy understanding. 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. For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling. With these charges, we are seeking to secure some measure of justice for all these victims.
Anyone who believes they or a family member may have been affected by these thefts is asked to the Victim and Witness Unit at usapam-victim.information@usdoj.gov or (717) 614-4249.
Harvard Medical School also created a website for families of those who willed their bodies to the university for research. Click here to reach it.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Worcester and receive free news updates.
