Ex-Harvard morgue manager who sold body parts sentenced to 8 years in prison
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Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo: Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A former Harvard Medical School morgue manager was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling human body parts as part of a nationwide scheme.
The big picture: Cedric Lodge, 58, pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen human remains, which prosecutors said involved the theft and sale of organs, skin, brains and dissected heads from cadavers donated to Harvard from 2018 "through at least March 2020," a Department of Justice statement announcing their sentencing on Tuesday.
- His wife, Denise Lodge, 65, was also sentenced in the Middle District of Pennsylvania to 12 months and one day in prison for her role in the scheme.
State of play: Lodge "took the remains without the knowledge or permission of his employer, the donor, or the donor's family" and transported them to his Goffstown, New Hampshire, home, where he and his wife would ship them to buyers interstate, according to a DOJ statement.
- "Remains stolen and sold by the Lodges were transported from the morgue in Boston to locations in Salem, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania," the statement said.
- Prosecutors said previously that he was paid tens of thousands of dollars for the remains — including a $1,000 payment marked for "head number 7" and $200 for an order marked "braiiiiiins."
- Several other defendants have also entered guilty pleas in related cases, the DOJ noted.
What they're saying: Harvard Medical School said in a media statement Wednesday that Lodge's conduct had been "abhorrent and inconsistent with the standards and values that Harvard, our anatomical donors, and their loved ones expect and deserve."
- Christopher Nielsen, the Inspector in Charge of the Philadelphia Division of the Postal Inspection Service, said in a statement the "trafficking of stolen human remains through the US Mail is a disturbing act that victimizes already grieving families while also creating a potentially hazardous situation for Postal employees and customers."
- He added: "I hope our efforts, and these sentencings, bring some amount of closure to those affected by this terrible crime."
- Defense attorney Patrick Casey in a court filing said the morgue manager of 28 years "acknowledges the seriousness of his conduct and the harm his actions have inflicted on both the deceased persons whose bodies he callously degraded and their grieving families," Boston.com reports.
Go deeper: Harvard Medical faces another lawsuit over stolen body parts
