Ex-Harvard Morgue Manager Sentenced to 8 Years for Selling Remains

A former Harvard Medical School morgue manager was sentenced to eight years in federal prison on Tuesday for stealing human remains from donated cadavers and selling them across state lines in a scheme that prosecutors described as a profound betrayal of trust. Cedric Lodge, 58, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty in May to transporting stolen goods interstate. His wife, Denise Lodge, 65, received a sentence of one year and one day for her role in facilitating the sales.

The operation, which spanned from 2018 through at least March 2020, involved Lodge removing body parts including brains, skin, hands, faces, dissected heads and spines from cadavers that had been donated to the school's anatomical gift program for medical research and education. These remains were taken after their use in studies but before they could be cremated or returned to families, in violation of donation agreements. Lodge transported the parts to the couple's home without permission from the school, donors or relatives, then sold them to buyers interested in the "oddities community," prosecutors said. The sales generated thousands of dollars, with shipments going to locations in Pennsylvania,...