SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Cedric Lodge, age 57, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, pled guilty yesterday before Chief United States District Judge Matthew W. Brann to interstate transport of stolen human remains.
According to Acting United States Attorney John Gurganus, Lodge admitted that, from 2018 through at least March 2020, he participated in the sale and interstate transport of human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School morgue, located in Boston, Massachusetts. Lodge, who was then employed as the 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. Lodge took the remains without the knowledge or permission of his employer, the donor, or the donor’s family, and transport the remains to his home in New Hampshire. After he and his wife Denise Lodge sold the remains, they would ship the remains to the buyers in other states or the buyer would take possession directly and transport the remains themselves. Remains stolen and sold by Lodge were transported from the morgue in Boston to locations in Salem, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.
Lodge admitted to having sold remains to Joshua Taylor and Andrew Ensanian, among others. Many of the remains purchased from Lodge were resold for a profit, including to Jeremy Pauley, who previously entered a guilty plea to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen human remains.
Several other defendants have previously entered guilty pleas in related cases, including Lodge’s wife, Denise Lodge, Joshua Taylor, Andrew Ensanian, Matthew Lampi, and Angelo Pereyra. Lampi was sentenced to 15 months in prison and Pereyra was sentenced to 18 months. Denise Lodge and Joshua Taylor are still awaiting sentencing. Additionally, Candace Chapman-Scott, who stole remains from an Arkansas crematorium where she was employed and sold them to Pauley in Pennsylvania, entered a plea of guilty in Arkansas federal court and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the East Pennsboro Township Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alisan Martin is prosecuting the case.
The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is 10 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
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