The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced Monday that Cedric Lodge, 57, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of stolen human remains before Chief United States District Judge Matthew W. Brann.
According to Acting United States Attorney John Gurganus, Lodge admitted to selling and transporting human remains stolen from the morgue at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, from 2018 to at least March 2020. Lodge, who was then the manager of the Harvard Medical School Morgue, removed human remains such as organs, brains, skin, hands, faces, dissected heads, and other parts from donated cadavers after they had been used for research and teaching but before they could be disposed of in accordance with the donor’s and the school’s anatomical gift donation agreements. Lodge removed the remains without the knowledge or approval of his work, the donor, or the donor’s family and transported them to his home in New Hampshire. After selling the bones, he and his wife, Denise Lodge, would ship them to buyers in other states, or the customer would take custody of the remains and transfer them themselves. Lodge pilfered and marketed the remains, transporting them from the Boston morgue to Salem, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. Massachusetts Real Estate
Lodge acknowledged selling remains to Joshua Taylor, Andrew Ensanian, and others. Many of the remains obtained from Lodge were sold for profit, including to Jeremy Pauley, who had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and interstate trafficking of stolen human remains.
Several other defendants have previously pleaded guilty in related instances, including Lodge’s wife, Denise Lodge; Joshua Taylor; Andrew Ensanian; Matthew Lampi; and Angelo Pereyra. Lampi was condemned to 15 months in prison, while Pereyra was sentenced to 18 months. Denise Lodge and Joshua Taylor are currently awaiting sentencing. Candace Chapman-Scott, who took remains from an Arkansas cremation where she worked and sold them to Pauley in Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in Arkansas federal court and received a 15-year term.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the East Pennsboro Township Police Department all investigated the case. Alisan Martin, an assistant US attorney, is prosecuting the case.
The maximum penalty for this offense under federal law is ten years in prison, followed by supervised release and a fine. Following a finding of guilt, the judge imposes a sentence based on the applicable federal sentencing legislation and guidelines.
