Harvard Med School Morgue Chief Allegedly Sold Body Parts

The manager of the morgue at Harvard Medical School allegedly stole human body parts and sold them online, according to federal prosecutors, local news outlet WCVB reports.

Prosecutors filed the indictment in Pennsylvania district court against morgue manager Cedric Lodge, accusing him of allowing buyers to enter the morgue in order to select a body part, including organs, bones, and other remains, which he would then take to his home in New Hampshire before shipping them to buyers through the mail.

His wife, Denise Lodge, is also named as a defendant in the indictment, as are two others, Katrina MacLean of Salem, Massachusetts and Joshua Taylor of West Lawn, Pennsylvania.

“At times, Cedric Lodge used his access to the morgue to allow Katrina MacLean, Joshua Taylor and others to enter the morgue and choose what remains to purchase,” reads the indictment.

The indictment states that MacLean agreed to sell two dissected faces for a total of $600 to Jeremy Pauley of Enola and Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, who according to the indictment was hired to tan the skin.

Prosecutors found that Taylor made 39 electronic payments to a PayPal account in the control of Denise Lodge for a total of just over $37,000. One transaction included the comment, “head number 7,” and another included the note, “braiiiiiins.”

“Some crimes defy understanding,” U.S. Attorney Gerard Karam said in a statement. “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.”

“We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus,” Edward Hundert, Harvard Dean of the Faculty of Medicine George Daley and Dean for Medical Education, wrote in a statement.