The U.S. judiciary announced Wednesday that the mortuary director of the prestigious Harvard Medical School has been arrested on charges of stealing organs and human remains from a workplace and selling them.

Charges and Statements

“Cedric Lodge, 55, is charged with trafficking in stolen human remains,” said Gerard Karam, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Pennsylvania.

“Some crimes are incomprehensible,” he said in a statement.

“It is especially egregious that so many victims here have voluntarily allowed their bodies to be used for the education of medical professionals, as well as in the interests of science and recovery,” the attorney general said.

Conspiracy and Indictment

The director of the mortuary, his wife Denise Lodge and five others are accused of conspiring across a nationwide network to buy and sell human remains.

According to the indictment, between 2018 and 2022, Lodge “stole organs and other body parts that had been donated for medical research and education prior to cremation.”

The indictment added that “Lodge moved these remains from the Boston mortuary to his home in Govestone, New Hampshire, where he and his wife sold the remains to two other defendants, Katrina McClain and Joshua Taylor.”

The indictment also noted that sometimes “Lodge allowed McClain and Taylor to enter the morgue … and inspect the bodies to decide what to buy.”

According to prosecutors, “the defendants, McClain and Taylor, resold these human remains for financial gain.”

Termination and Shock

Harvard Medical School also announced Lodge’s termination on May 6, expressing shock that such “extremely disturbing” things had happened on our campus.

Source: AFP.