At least seven people have been arrested and charged with stealing and selling human parts from the Harvard Medical School morgue in Boston. The group, including the morgue manager, Cedric Lodge, sold the human remains to a network of buyers across the country, an NBC report said.
The ring also comprised Cedric Lodge's wife Denise Lodge from Goffstown, New Hampshire, Katrina Maclean of Salem, Massachusetts, and Joshua Taylor, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania. They stole, sold and shipped parts of bodies donated to the university for medical research.
The group of seven is accused of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods.
Cedric Lodge, the morgue manager, has been accused of breaching his duty of care, being negligent and failing to ensure that the cadavers were properly handled and maintained for their intended purpose of scientific study.
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Cedric Lodge often let Maclean and Taylor into the morgue and examine cadavers to choose what they wanted to purchase, read a statement by federal prosecutors.
While Taylor transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania, there were also times Lodges shipped stolen remains to Taylor and others outside state, the statement added.
“Lodge stole dissected portions of donated cadavers, including, for example, heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains, without the knowledge or permission of HMS,” according to the indictment.
The court papers also mentioned that Lodge and his wife would reach out to buyers through websites for the body parts.
As per the court documents, Taylor sent 39 electronic payments, for a total of $37,355.56, to a PayPal account run by Denise Lodge from September 3, 2018, to July 12, 2021. These payments were allegedly made for human remains, the indictment says.
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A payment memo from 2019 read, "head number 7," and another one on November 20, 2020, said the transaction was for "braiiiiiins."
“We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others,” Harvard Medical School said in a statement.
The reported incidents are a betrayal of Harvard Medical School and the individuals who chose to will their bodies to the institute through the Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research, the statement added.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
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