The manager of Harvard Medical School’s morgue was indicted on federal charges he stole body parts as part of a human-remains trafficking conspiracy involving his wife and others.
(Bloomberg) — The manager of Harvard Medical School’s morgue was indicted on federal charges he stole body parts as part of a human-remains trafficking conspiracy involving his wife and others.
Cedric Lodge allowed buyers into the school’s morgue to choose body parts from donated cadavers and transported heads, brains, skin, and bones to his home in New Hampshire, according to the five-count indictment filed in Pennsylvania.
“Some crimes defy understanding,” US Attorney Gerard M. Karam said Wednesday in a statement. He called the conspiracy “particularly egregious” because victims had donated their remains for educating students and advancing science.
“For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling,” Karam said.
Named as buyers in the indictment are Katrina MacLean of Salem, Massachusetts, who ran a studio called “Kat’s Creepy Creations,” and Joshua Taylor, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania. Lodge’s wife Denise is accused of shipping the remains and operating a PayPal account that received $37,355 in proceeds from the conspiracy.
Harvard Medical’s deans called the alleged crimes “an abhorrent betrayal” in a statement. The school has set up a web page with resources for donor families and next of kin.
Lawyers for the defendants couldn’t immediately be located for comment.
The case is USA v. Lodge, 23-cr-00159, US District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania (Scranton).
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