Topline
The morgue manager and several others at Harvard Medical School have been indicted after they allegedly spent five years stealing human body parts, selling them online and in person and mailing them via the United States Postal Service.
Harvard Medical School. Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images
Key Facts
An indictment filed in the U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania on Tuesday accuses Cedric Lodge, Danise Lodge, Katrina Maclean and Joshua Tayor of running a years-long scheme to steal and sell “heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains” that had been slated for cremation after use by Harvard Medical School.
Cedric Lodge, manager of the school’s morgue, allegedly took body parts home as well as allowed others into the morgue before working to sell parts of the cadavers online and in person through Maclean’s store, Kat’s Creepy Creations in Salem, Massachusetts.
The indictment says more than $40,000 changed hands between 2018 and March of 2023.
The Harvard thefts are connected by a mutual buyer to another similar scheme perpetrated by Candace Chapman Scott, who is also alleged to have stolen and sold remains from a Little Rock, Arkansas, mortuary and crematorium before she was indicted in the Eastern District of Arkansas.
A statement from U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam said the indictment and other information “allege that a nationwide network of individuals bought and sold human remains.”
Crucial Quote
“Some crimes defy understanding,” said Karam.
What To Watch For
Defendants face a maximum of 15 years in prison on charges of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods.
Big Number
20,000–The number of people in the United States who annually donate their bodies to scientific research and education.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/06/14/body-parts-stolen-from-harvard-morgue-shipped-via-usps-indictment-says/