Left: Cedric Lodge (WBTS). Right: Jeremy Pauley (Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office).
Individuals who chose to donate their bodies to Harvard Medical School likely intended for their remains to be used strictly for educational and scientific purposes.
The morgue manager, however, had different plans: He stole the remains — and sold them for profit.
The person involved, Cedric Lodge, 57, confessed to the crime of interstate shipment of stolen body parts on Wednesday at a federal court in Pennsylvania, according to an announcement by authorities.
He follows his wife, Denise Lodge, and others in admitting wrongdoing.
Prosecutors revealed that Cedric Lodge, who is no longer employed as the morgue manager, admitted his role in the illicit body parts trade from 2018 at least until March 2020. He took organs, brains, skin, faces, and heads from the facility to his residence in New Hampshire. Lodge and his wife then sold these remains to buyers in Salem, Massachusetts, as well as in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, according to prosecutors.
Those buyers allegedly included co-defendant Joshua Taylor.
Between Sept. 3, 2018, through July 12, 2021, Taylor sent 39 payments, totaling $37,355.56, to a PayPal account that Denise Lodge operated, authorities said. On May 19, 2019, he sent her $10,000 with a memo reading “head number 7,” documents stated.
On Nov. 20, 2020, Taylor sent her $200 with a memo reading “braiiiiiins.”
Prosecutors say that another man, Jeremy Pauley, purchased remains from Lodge customer Katrina Maclean.
Maclean’s federal case is ongoing, but Pauley has pleaded guilty in state and federal court. He had purchased remains from Candace Chapman-Scott, a crematorium employee from Arkansas.
“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,” authorities said Thursday in light of Cedric Lodge’s guilty plea. “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.”
