US Edition9 guilty of trafficking human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School, mortuary
Cedric Lodge received eight years and Denise Lodge one year for stealing and selling body parts from Harvard donors, earning up to $95,000, prosecutors said.
- On Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann sentenced Cedric Lodge, former Harvard Medical School morgue manager, to eight years, capping a two-and-a-half-year scandal.
- Between 2018 and 2022 investigators say Lodge stole organs, brains, skin, hands, feet, spines and skulls from donated cadavers at Harvard Medical School, with arrests in 2023 exposing the four-year scheme.
- Prosecutors say he sold parts to buyers met online, including Facebook groups, and at least once invited a purchaser into the morgue, selling two dissected faces for $600 while Denise Lodge shipped parts and accepted PayPal payments, earning an estimated $40,000 to $95,000.
- Both defendants were ordered to begin their prison terms on Jan. 16, with Denise Lodge sentenced to one year and a day; more than 400 donor families may have been affected as civil suits against Harvard proceed.
- Prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Alisan V. Martin citing online chat evidence and saying the conduct `shocks the conscience`, while Patrick Casey said `There is undoubtedly a level of numbness or lack of appreciation for the sensitivities of the general public.
118 Articles
118 Articles
Cedric L. is said to have sold brains, skin and hands among others. The body parts came from bodies donated to the Havard University for research purposes. Now he has to go to prison.
By Ally JarmanningTo read this article in English in WBUR, click here.WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania — The former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School who stole and sold parts of bodies donated to the institution was sentenced to eight years in prison.A federal judge in Pennsylvania handed down the sentence against Cedric Lodge on Tuesday, ending a two-and-a-half-year scandal involving one of the most prestigious medical schools in the country a…
Associated Press News
Harvard morgue manager who sold body parts like 'baubles' gets 8-year prison term
A former manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue in Boston has been sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling body parts.
Former Harvard Morgue Manager, Wife Sentenced for Stealing and Selling Body Parts
A former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School has been sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling human body parts donated for scientific research, the Department of Justice said. Cedric Lodge, 58, was sentenced on Dec. 16 during a hearing in federal court in Pennsylvania. His wife, Denise Lodge, 65, received a sentence of 12 months and one day in prison. The couple previously pleaded guilty to charges related to the interst…
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