Harvard Medical School morgue manager stole and sold body parts

CBS News reported that Mr. Cedric Lodge (55 years old), former morgue manager of Harvard Medical School, appeared in federal court in Concord, New Hampshire on the afternoon of June 14 to hear the charges.

According to a federal indictment, Lodge stole body parts from the morgue and took them to his home in Goffstown, New Hampshire, and sold them online. He was fired in May, according to Reuters.

Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts

Also charged in the case were Mr. Lodge’s wife, Denise (63), and two buyers, Katrina MacLean (44), who lives in Salem, Massachusetts, and Joshua Taylor (46), who lives in Pennsylvania. Three other people were also charged in connection with the investigation.

MacLean appeared in court in Boston on the afternoon of June 14, charged with transporting stolen goods within and across state lines. The maximum penalty for the crime is 10 years in prison, but the judge allowed the defendant to go home because it was a non-violent crime. However, she will have to appear in court later.

MacLean owned a shop in Peabody, Massachusetts. In March, the FBI raided the shop and her home in Salem. MacLean was buying and reselling body parts from the shop.

Prosecutors say Ms. MacLean, Mr. Taylor and the Lodge family took body parts from morgues to New Hampshire and Pennsylvania between 2018 and March of this year.

The stolen parts included heads, brains, skin, bones and other parts. Cedric Lodge and his wife resold them to others and sometimes shipped them by mail .

The defendant also took buyers to the morgue to choose which parts to buy, according to prosecutors. On one occasion in October 2020, Ms. MacLean bought two face parts for $600.

Mr. Taylor transferred a total of $37,000 to Ms. Denise Lodge for body parts, including one transfer of $200 with the content "brain."

Harvard Medical School called the actions morally reprehensible. Dean of the School of Medicine George Daley and Dean of Medical Education Edward Hundert said in a statement: "We are horrified that something so horrific could happen in our school, a community dedicated to healing and serving others." The two deans said the incident was a betrayal of the school and those who have chosen to donate their bodies to advance medical research and education.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/quan-ly-nha-xac-truong-y-harvard-lay-cap-ban-bo-phan-thi-the-185230615080801095.htm