'We are appalled': Feds lay out case against ex-Harvard morgue manager accused of selling body parts
On Wednesday, June 14, federal prosecutors for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) laid out a case against the ex-manager of a morgue at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts (a Boston suburb) along with several other defendants who are accused of illegally selling or buying body parts.
According to New York Times reporter Michael Levenson, DOJ prosecutors allege that "the defendants were all part of a nationwide network that bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and a mortuary in Little Rock, (Arkansas) where defendant (Candace Chapman) Scott worked."
The former morgue manager charged with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods, Levenson reports, is Goffstown, New Hampshire resident Cedric Lodge. Another defendant is Lodge's wife Denise Lodge.
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"According to federal prosecutors, from 2018 to 2022, Mr. Lodge stole parts from cadavers that had been donated to the medical school and dissected — including heads, brains, skin and bones — before their scheduled cremations," Levenson explains. "The Lodges then shipped remains to others, including Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Mass., who owns a store called Kat’s Creepy Creations in Peabody, Mass., and Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, Pa., prosecutors said."
Levenson adds, "At times, Mr. Lodge allowed Ms. Maclean, Mr. Taylor and others into the morgue to choose which parts they wanted, prosecutors said. In October 2020, prosecutors said, Ms. Maclean agreed to buy two dissected faces from Mr. Lodge for $600."
Boston's WHDH-TV Channel 7 News reports that according to the 17-page indictment, Taylor sent Denise Lodge $200 via PayPal on November 20, 2020 and included a memo that read, "braiiiiins."
According to the Associated Press, Harvard Medical deans George Daley and Edward Hundert have described the scandal as "morally reprehensible" and confirmed that Cedric Lodge was fired on May 6.
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In a June 14 message posted on Harvard Medical School's website, Daley and Hundert wrote, "We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others. 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.”
AP notes that "bodies donated to Harvard Medical School are used for education, teaching or research purposes."
"Once they are no longer needed," AP explains, "the cadavers are usually cremated, and the ashes are returned to the donor’s family or buried in a cemetery."
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