{shortcode-80f2843152862c0979163435e63e818b29608760}
Katrina Maclean, who allegedly bought and sold remains stolen from Harvard Medical School’s morgue, agreed to plead guilty to a charge of interstate transport of stolen goods, according to court filings from late last month.
Maclean entered the plea agreement in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in October. Under the agreement, she is set to admit to transporting stolen human remains across state lines between July and October 2021.
According to an indictment filed by a grand jury in 2023, Maclean agreed to purchase two dissected faces from Harvard morgue manager Cedric Lodge for $600 in October of 2020. In June or July of 2021, she allegedly shipped human skin — also purchased from Lodge — to a man in Pennsylvania so he could tan it to create leather, according to the indictment.
The exchanges allegedly continued for several months. The Pennsylvania man, Jeremy Pauley, returned the tanned skin to Maclean, who paid him with more stolen skin in return, according to the indictment. Maclean then allegedly contacted Pauley to ensure that the skin was received, stating that she “wanted to make sure it got to you and I don’t expect agents at my door.”
That October, Pauley paid Maclean $8,800 for stolen remains, the indictment stated.
Maclean’s shop in Peabody, Massachusetts — Kat’s Creepy Creations, through which she allegedly stored stolen human remains, then sold them to buyers in multiple states — was raided by the FBI in March 2023, several months before a U.S. attorney in Pennsylvania pursued the indictments against Maclean, Lodge, and others involved in the case.
In April, Lodge entered an agreement to plead guilty to selling and transporting human remains stolen from the HMS morgue across state lines — a reversal from his previous not guilty plea in the case.
Maclean, Lodge, and others have not yet been sentenced in the case, but Maclean’s plea agreement states that the U.S. will recommend 12 months of imprisonment. The maximum penalties for the interstate transport of stolen goods include 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Maclean’s agreement heads off a trial against her, which was set to begin this month.
As part of the plea deal, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania agreed not to bring other criminal charges, except tax charges, against Maclean. The agreement allows Maclean to reverse her guilty plea if the court accepts her motion to dismiss the case against her.
Lodge pled guilty to stealing remains from the HMS morgue between 2018 and 2020, and the federal court indictment accused him of continuing the thefts through 2023. He used his access to the morgue to allow Maclean and others to enter and select the remains they wished to purchase, the indictment alleged.
The brazen thefts spurred Harvard and HMS administrators to create a panel to evaluate the policies of the Anatomical Gift Program, which oversees human remains donated for use in medical teaching and research. In December 2023, the panel found that a variety of additional security measures — including upgraded camera systems, more thorough background checks, and better record-keeping — could be established to protect the remains. HMS created a task force to implement the recommendations.
Harvard has also faced legal action over the morgue thefts from families of the people whose remains were stolen, who alleged mishandling by the University. In October, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts allowed a lawsuit brought by family members to move to discovery.
—Staff writer Abigail S. Gerstein can be reached at abigail.gerstein@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @abbysgerstein.
—Staff writer Ella F. Niederhelman can be reached at ella.niederhelman@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @eniederhelman.
