The former manager of Harvard Medical School’s morgue has agreed to plea guilty to stealing body parts and selling them across state lines, according to documents filed Wednesday in federal court.
Cedric Lodge, 57, was arrested two years ago on charges he took parts of donated cadavers — among them heads, brains, skin and bones — and sold them as part of a “nationwide network” of people buying and selling human remains.
The plea agreement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, shows Lodge has agreed to plead guilty to one count of interstate transport of stolen goods. The maximum penalty is imprisonment for 10 years and a fine of $250,000.
The remaining charges of conspiracy and transport of stolen goods will be dismissed. A hearing date on the plea deal has not been set.
The plea agreement comes a year after Lodge’s wife, Denise Lodge, agreed to plead guilty to transporting stolen human remains.
Denise Lodge’s attorney put blame on Cedric Lodge at the time, saying “her husband was doing this and she just kind of went along with it.”
A request for comment from Cedric Lodge’s attorney was not immediately returned.
Cedric Lodge had worked in Harvard’s morgue for almost three decades. He was fired in May 2023, about a month before the Lodges and several buyers were indicted by prosecutors on charges of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods.
The case set off an outcry amongst families whose loved ones donated their bodies to Harvard Medical School, with dozens of others withdrawing their future donation plans.
Harvard insists Lodge acted alone, and that no one else knew about the alleged scheme.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Material from WBUR’s Ally Jarmanning was used in this report.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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