A former Harvard Medical School morgue manager admitted to stealing organs and selling them on the black market.
According to the New York Post, Cedric Lodge, 57, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty to interstate transport of stolen human remains on Wednesday before a federal judge (via NYP):
Officials said Lodge admitted that from 2018 through at least March 2020 he participated in the sale and interstate transport of human remains stolen from the Harvard Medical School morgue in Massachusetts.
Lodge, then-manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue, removed human remains, including organs, brains, skin, hands, faces, dissected heads and other parts from donated cadavers after they had been used for research and teaching purposes, but before they could be disposed of according to the anatomical gift donation agreement between the donor and the school, according to the release.
He took the remains to his home in New Hampshire without the permission or knowledge of his employer, the donors or donors’ families.
After Lodge and his wife sold the remains, they would ship them to buyers in other states or transport the remains themselves. His wife has not yet been sentenced.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the East Pennsboro Township Police Department in Pennsylvania.
Harvard Medical School morgue manager admits to stealing organs, selling them on the black market https://t.co/PYM4vvAzRj pic.twitter.com/F4bXpSspFn
— New York Post (@nypost) May 24, 2025
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania noted that the maximum penalty under federal law for the crime is 10 years in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment and a fine.
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