Former university morgue manager charged for stealing brains, skin, other body parts to sell
This story out of Harvard University will make your hairs stand on end.
The former manager of the morgue at Harvard Medical School has been charged for allegedly stealing body parts to sell and ship, according to the indictment obtained by CNN.
Cedric Lodge, 55, is part of a nationwide network of individuals who bought and sold human remains stolen from the medical school and an Arkansas mortuary, states a release from the US Attorney’s office.
“Some crimes defy understanding,ā said US Attorney Gerard M. Karam in a statement. āIt 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. With these charges, we are seeking to secure some measure of justice for all these victims,” he added.
The charges claim that the morgue manager for the Harvard Anatomical Gifts Program stole organs and other parts of cadavers like heads, brains, skin, and bones before their scheduled cremations.
Lodge allegedly even transported the stolen dissected remains from Boston to his home in Goffstown, New Hampshire. There, he and his wife Denise Lodge, 63, allegedly sold the remains to Katrina Maclean, Joshua Taylor, and others, making arrangements via cell phones and social media.
According to the US Attorney’s office, Lodge sometimes allowed Maclean and Taylor to enter the morgue at Harvard to examine cadavers so they could pick and choose what to buy.
Maclean owns Kat’s Creepy Creations, a store in Peabody Massachusetts that sells “creepy dolls, oddities, bone art,” according to the now-deleted Instagram account. She allegedly sold the stolen body parts at the store, the indictment states.
The Lodges, Taylor, and Maclean have all been charged with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods.
“The defendants violated the trust of the deceased and their families all in the name of greed,” said FBI special agent in charge Jacqueline Maguire in a statement. “While today’s charges cannot undo the unfathomable pain this heinous crime has caused, the FBI will continue to work tirelessly to see that justice is served.”
The US Attorney’s office says it has and continues to attempt to identify and contact as many of the victims’ families affected by the case.
If you or a family member may have been affected by this, you can contact the Victim and Witness Unit at (717) 614-4249 or viaĀ email here.
If the Lodges and their conspirators are found guilty in court, the max penalty under federal law for this offence is 15 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.