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Cedric Lodge — the former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School charged with stealing and selling parts of human cadavers — pleaded guilty to the interstate transport of stolen human remains during a Wednesday change of plea hearing, according to a Department of Justice press release.
Lodge pleaded guilty to the illegal transport of human remains given to the HMS Anatomical Gift Program from 2018 through 2022, in accordance with a plea deal he made with federal prosecutors last month. Under the plea agreement, Lodge no longer faces a conspiracy charge, and prosecutors recommended he receive less than the maximum sentence of 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.
Even though Lodge — who worked as morgue manager for almost three decades — filed a guilty plea in April, he had to attend Wednesday’s change of plea hearing because he had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.
HMS fired Lodge after he was indicted in 2023 for transporting “heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains” that he stole from the HMS morgue to his New Hampshire home. He and his wife would sell the remains for a profit to buyers in other states, including Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
HMS Dean George Q. Daley ’82 wrote in an April statement that “while Lodge has agreed to plead guilty and taken responsibility for his crimes, this likely provides little consolation to the families impacted.”
In a filing on March 3, Lodgey’s attorney asked a judge to dismiss his charges on the grounds that human remains are not classified as “goods, wares, merchandise, securities, or money” — and thus their sale cannot be charged under the United States code.
Denise Lodge, Lodge’s wife, was also charged in 2023 and pleaded guilty to the same offense last year, but she has yet to be sentenced. Other defendants have also entered guilty pleas — including Joshua Taylor, who entered a plea one day before Lodge. Katrina MacLean, another defendant who bought remains from Lodge, has yet to enter a plea since contesting her indictment on the same grounds as Lodge.
An external panel reviewed the Anatomical Gift Program in 2023 and urged HMS to develop more standardized policies and procedures for the morgue. The panel’s report specifically recommended that the University update its morgue security, screen morgue staff, and more closely track cadavers.
Lawyers for Lodge and the affected families did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In an April statement, Daley condemned Lodge’s actions as “a disgraceful betrayal of the individuals who altruistically chose to will their bodies to Harvard Medical School’s Anatomical Gift Program.”
“We continue to express our deep compassion to all those affected,” Daley added.
—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.
