A former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School has been sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling human remains donated for scientific research, the U.S. Justice Department announced.
Cedric Lodge, 58, pleaded guilty in May to trafficking stolen body parts including organs, brains, skin, hands, faces, and dissected heads taken between 2018 and at least March 2020. Investigators said Lodge removed the remains without consent and transported them from the medical school near Boston to his home in New Hampshire and other locations before shipping them to buyers across state lines.
Harvard Medical School dismissed Lodge in May 2023.
His wife, Denise Lodge, 65, was sentenced to one year in prison for her role in the scheme. Authorities noted that several buyers resold the remains for profit, with some already sentenced and others awaiting judgment.
“Today’s sentencing is another step forward in ensuring those who orchestrated and executed this heinous crime are brought to justice,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia field office.
