Incomprehensible crimes before cremation… A scandal rocks Harvard University

The US judiciary announced on Wednesday that the director of the morgue of the prestigious Harvard Medical School was arrested on charges of stealing organs and human remains from his workplace and selling them.

Trafficking in stolen human organs

Gerard Karam, the federal prosecutor for the Central District of Pennsylvania, said that Cedric Lodge, 55, is accused of trafficking in stolen human remains.

“Some crimes cannot be understood,” he said in a statement.

“It is particularly appalling that so many of the victims here have volunteered to allow their bodies to be used for the education of medical professionals and in the interest of science and healing,” the attorney general stressed in his statement.

Network headed by an administrator

The morgue director, his wife Denise Lodge, 63, and five others have been indicted for conspiring as part of a “national network” to buy and sell human remains.

According to the indictment, between 2018 and 2022, Lodge “stealed organs and other body parts that were donated for medical research and education prior to cremation.”

The indictment added that Lodge moved these remains from the morgue in Boston to his home in Gouvestown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife sold the remains to two other defendants, Katrina McClain and Joshua Taylor.

View the carcass before purchasing

The indictment also noted that at times, “Lodge allowed McLean and Taylor to enter the morgue … and examine the bodies to choose what to buy.”

According to the Public Prosecution Office, McClain (44 years old) and Taylor (46 years old) resold these human remains for financial profit.

fired from his job

For its part, Harvard Medical School announced that Lodge was fired on May 6, expressing its shock that such a thing “is very disturbing on our campus.”