The indictments returned by a grand jury in Scranton, Pennsylvania, target Denise Lodge, the wife of mortuary director Cedric Lodge. Katrina Maclean of Massachusetts and Joshua Taylor of West Lawn, Pennsylvania, were also charged with interstate transportation of stolen cadavers.
"Cedric Lodge occasionally allowed Maclean and Taylor to enter the morgue at Harvard Medical School and examine the cadavers to decide what to buy, while Taylor transported the stolen cadavers to Pennsylvania," federal prosecutors said in a statement.
According to the indictment, Cedric Lodge stole "dismembered portions of donated cadavers, including brains, skin, bones and other human remains, without the university's knowledge or authorization."
Court documents revealed that he and his wife reached out to buyers through websites and cell phones about the sale of the stolen cadavers. The 15-page indictment did not detail the exact purpose for which the body parts were purchased, but it did include conversations in which Maclean mentioned sending human flesh to a man in Pennsylvania and "turning it into skin."
The indictment said that from September 3, 2018 to July 12, 2021, Taylor sent 39 electronic payments to his PayPal account totaling $37,355 for the human remains Cedric Lodge stole from Harvard. One payment from Taylor had "braiiiiins" in the transaction description.
Harvard Medical School said in a statement: "We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus, a community dedicated to healing and serving others. These events betray each and every one of the individuals who chose to donate their bodies to Harvard Medical School for science."
