--- title: Harvard Medical Morgue Chief Charged With Selling Body Parts description: Cedric Lodge was indicted on federal charges he stole body parts as part of a human-remains trafficking conspiracy. canonical: https://time.com/6287536/harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-06-15T17:26:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T16:02:00.677Z article:section: Health og:title: Harvard Medical Morgue Chief Charged With Selling Body Parts og:description: Cedric Lodge was indicted on federal charges he stole body parts as part of a human-remains trafficking conspiracy. og:url: https://time.com/6287536/harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f16a882e93327b7/698a3deab3fce3ec7c0ca8fa/harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Harvard Medical Morgue Chief Charged With Selling Body Parts og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Harvard Medical Morgue Chief Charged With Selling Body Parts twitter:description: Cedric Lodge was indicted on federal charges he stole body parts as part of a human-remains trafficking conspiracy. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f16a882e93327b7/698a3deab3fce3ec7c0ca8fa/harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Harvard Medical Morgue Chief Charged With Selling Body Parts by [Janelle Lawrence/Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Janelle Lawrence/Bloomberg Jun 15, 2023 5:26 PM UTC  Concord, NH - June 14: Former Harvard Medical School morgue manager Cedric Lodge, 55, shields his face with a printout of the indictment against him as he walked from the Warren B. Rudman United States Courthouse, following his arrest on charges related to an alleged scheme to steal and sell donated body parts. Concord, NH - June 14: Former Harvard Medical School morgue manager Cedric Lodge, 55, shields his face with a printout of the indictment against him as he walked from the Warren B. Rudman United States Courthouse, following his arrest on charges related to an alleged scheme to steal and sell donated body parts.Steven Porter—The Boston Globe via Getty Images by [Janelle Lawrence/Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Janelle Lawrence/Bloomberg Jun 15, 2023 5:26 PM UTC The manager of Harvard Medical School’s morgue was indicted on federal charges he stole body parts as part of a human-remains trafficking conspiracy involving his wife and others. Cedric Lodge allowed buyers into the school’s morgue to choose body parts from donated cadavers and transported heads, brains, skin, and bones to his home in New Hampshire, according to the five-count indictment filed in Pennsylvania. “Some crimes defy understanding,” U.S. Attorney [Gerard M. Karam](https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/meet-us-attorney) said Wednesday in a [statement](https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/six-charged-trafficking-stolen-human-remains). He called the conspiracy “particularly egregious” because victims had donated their remains for educating students and advancing science. “For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling,” Karam said. Named as buyers in the indictment are Katrina MacLean of Salem, Massachusetts, who ran a studio called “Kat’s Creepy Creations,” and Joshua Taylor, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania. Lodge’s wife Denise is accused of shipping the remains and operating a PayPal account that received $37,355 in proceeds from the conspiracy. Harvard Medical’s deans called the alleged crimes “an abhorrent betrayal” in a [statement](https://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/office-dean/messages-dean). The school has set up a [web page](https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/anatomical-gift-program-resources/resources-donor-families) with resources for donor families and next of kin. All four defendants were arrested Wednesday. Cedric Lodge and his wife were released on conditions after appearing in federal court in New Hampshire. Cedric’s appointed lawyer, Behzad Mirhashem, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did an attorney for Denise Lodge. **Read More:** [_What Actually Changes After a University Like Harvard Investigates Its Ties to Slavery_](https://time.com/6173667/harvard-slavery-reparations/) Taylor pleaded not guilty in Pennsylvania and was released. His attorney, Christopher Opiel, declined to comment. MacLean appeared in court in Boston. Her attorney, Gordon Spencer, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors separately charged an employee of a mortuary and crematorium in Little Rock, Arkansas, for allegedly selling and shipping the remains of two stillborn babies to a Pennsylvania resident named Jeremy Pauley, who was also charged. Investigators claim the Harvard morgue manager agreed to look for skin for MacLean to provide to Pauley so he could tan the skin to create leather. MacLean also agreed to buy two dissected cadaver faces for $600 from the morgue manager in October 2020, according to prosecutors. In September 2021, MacLean shipped human skin to Pauley, according to the indictment. She later contacted Pauley to check on the package. She allegedly told him she “wanted to make sure it got to you and I don’t expect agents at my door.” The case is USA v. Lodge, 23-cr-00159, US District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania (Scranton). _(Updates with court appearances, additional defendants)_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6287536/harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6287536/harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts/"},"headline":"Harvard Medical Morgue Chief Charged With Selling Body Parts","datePublished":"2023-06-15T17:26:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T16:02:00.677Z","description":"Cedric Lodge was indicted on federal charges he stole body parts as part of a human-remains trafficking conspiracy.","url":"https://time.com/6287536/harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts/","keywords":["healthscienceclimate","bloomberg wire"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f16a882e93327b7/698a3deab3fce3ec7c0ca8fa/harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Janelle Lawrence/Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f16a882e93327b7/698a3deab3fce3ec7c0ca8fa/harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Harvard Medical Morgue Chief Charged With Selling Body Parts","caption":"harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts","creditText":"Steven Porter—The Boston Globe via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6287536/harvard-medical-morgue-chief-charged-selling-body-parts/","name":"Harvard Medical Morgue Chief Charged With Selling Body Parts"}}]}] ```