By: Richard Zhao
On Wednesday, federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced that Cedric Lodge, a former manager at Harvard, had been charged with stealing and selling human body parts.
Lodge, along with his wife and three other people, took and then sold dissected parts of donated cadavers without the school’s knowledge or permission. This series of thefts started in 2018 and continued into early 2023.
Allegedly, Lodge would allow buyers to go to the morgue to pick out what body parts they wanted. According to prosecutors, the buyers were part of a nationwide group who resold body parts for profit. The Lodges and three others (Katrina Maclean, Joshua Taylor, and Mathew Lampi) have been charged with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen property.
Taylor resold the cadavers for profit after transporting them to Pennsylvania and allegedly sent more than $37,000 to Denise Lodge for the body parts. The stolen goods, which included heads, brains, skin, and bones, were mailed to Taylor and the others. Prosecutors said that Maclean allegedly “agreed to purchase two dissected faces for $600.”
The intended purpose of donated cadavers is for education, teaching, or research. “We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others,” the deans of Harvard University wrote. “The reported incidents are a betrayal of HMS and, most importantly, each of the individuals who altruistically chose to will their bodies to HMS through the Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research.” The deans have provided the family members of the donors with a webpage of resources and counselors.
Denise Lodge made her first court appearance on Wednesday and was released on personal recognizance bail. She declined to make any comment to the press as she left. Cedric Lodge was scheduled to appear later Wednesday. It was not known whether any defendants had a lawyer who would comment on their behalf.
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