A former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School has been sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling body parts donated for scientific research, the United States Justice Department has said.
The convict, Cedric Lodge, 58, was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty in May to trafficking human remains taken from the university’s morgue between 2018 and at least March 2020.
According to investigators, the stolen items included internal organs, brains, skin, hands, faces and dissected heads, all donated by families for medical research and education.
Harvard Medical School confirmed that Lodge was dismissed from his position in May 2023 after the case came to light.
The Justice Department said Lodge carried out the illegal acts with the help of his wife, Denise Lodge. The couple allegedly moved the body parts from the Harvard facility near Boston to their home in Goffstown, New Hampshire, and to other locations in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
Authorities said the removals were done “without the knowledge or permission of his employer, the donor, or the donor’s family,” before the remains were shipped to buyers in other states.
Denise Lodge, 65, was also convicted and sentenced to one year in prison for her role in the crime.
Reacting to the judgment, the Federal Bureau of Investigation described the offence as deeply disturbing.
“Today’s sentencing is another step forward in ensuring those who orchestrated and executed this heinous crime are brought to justice,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office.
The Justice Department disclosed that many of the body parts sold by Lodge were later resold by buyers for profit.
It added that several individuals who purchased the stolen remains have already been sentenced to prison, while others are still awaiting sentencing.
The case has continued to draw outrage in the United States, especially among families who donated the bodies of their loved ones in the hope of advancing medical science.
