A former mortuary manager at Harvard Medical School has been sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling body parts that were donated for research. The US Department of Justice said in a statement that Cedric Lodge, 58, pleaded guilty to trafficking in the stolen remains. His wife Denise Lodge was also sentenced to one year in prison after admitting her involvement in the sale of stolen human remains.
The organs he stole and sold included internal organs, brains, skin, hands, faces and dissected heads. From 2018 until at least March 2020, he stole body parts from Harvard Medical School. He was kicked out of the university in May 2023, Harvard said.
Cedric Lodge and his wife, Denise, stole body parts from the medical school and took them to Goffstown, New Hampshire. They also transported them to locations in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, “without the knowledge or permission of his employer, the donor, or the donor’s family.” They then sent the body parts to other states.
“Today’s sentencing is another step forward in ensuring that those who organized and carried out this heinous crime are brought to justice,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia branch.
The Department of Justice said many of the human remains sold by Lodge were subsequently resold at a profit. Several of those buyers have been sentenced to prison terms or are awaiting sentencing, the statement said.
Prosecutors sought a 10-year sentence for the defendants. They said the behavior was “for the amusement of the disturbing ‘weird’ community.”
“He has caused profound emotional harm to untold numbers of family members who are left to reflect on the mishandling of the bodies of their loved ones,” they said.
A lawyer representing the lodge urged the judge to avoid such a “harsh” punishment. However, he also admitted “the harm that his actions caused both to the deceased persons whose bodies he callously humiliated and to their grieving families”.
How did Harvard respond?
In a statement, Harvard Medical School called Lodge’s actions “abhorrent and inconsistent with the standards and values that Harvard, our anatomy donors and their loved ones expect and deserve.”
It added that it was “deeply saddened by the families of the donors who may have been affected”. The Massachusetts Supreme Court in October allowed several families to file lawsuits against Harvard that claimed it mishandled the bodies of their loved ones.
