Ex-Harvard morgue manager charged with selling stolen cadavers

18/4/2025 5:54

A former Harvard Medical

School morgue manager accused of stealing and selling organs and

other parts of cadavers donated to the school for medical

research and education has agreed to plead guilty.



Cedric Lodge, who managed Harvard's morgue for more than two

decades before his 2023 arrest, has agreed to plead guilty to

transporting stolen goods across state lines, according to a

plea agreement filed on Wednesday in federal court in

Williamsport, Pennsylvania.



He opted to plead guilty rather than proceed to trial as

scheduled on May 5 alongside a woman who prosecutors said bought

body parts from Lodge and his wife, who had pleaded guilty last

year.



Lodge, 57, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

His lawyer declined to comment on Thursday.



Prosecutors said Lodge from 2018 to 2022 stole parts from

cadavers including heads, brains, skin and bones and transported

them from Harvard's morgue in Massachusetts to his home in

Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife sold them.



Prosecutors said Lodge at times allowed potential buyers

into the school's morgue to examine human bodies donated to

Harvard and select what parts to buy. The buyers mostly resold

the body parts, prosecutors said.



Families that entrusted their loved ones' remains to Harvard

filed about a dozen lawsuits against the school following the

arrest of Lodge and others charged in the scandal, accusing it

of mishandling the bodies.



But a Massachusetts judge dismissed those cases last year,

saying the lawsuits failed to plausibly allege Harvard failed to

act in good faith in handling the bodies or was legally

responsible for Lodge's "horrifying" conduct.



Those families are awaiting a decision from Massachusetts'

highest court on whether it will reverse that decision.



Harvard did not respond to a request for comment on

Thursday. It had previously said it was appalled by Lodge's

conduct and was sorry for the uncertainty and distress that

families faced as a result of his actions.



An independent review Harvard launched of its cadaver

donation program recommended in late 2023 that it implement more

oversight and better documentation.