Left: Cedric Lodge (WBTS). Right: Jeremy Pauley (Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office).
Individuals who generously offered their bodies to Harvard Medical School most likely did so under the assumption that their remains would be utilized solely for educational and research purposes.
The morgue manager, however, had different plans: He stole the remains — and sold them for profit.
Recently, Cedric Lodge, a 57-year-old man, pleaded guilty to charges of interstate transportation of stolen human remains in a federal court in Pennsylvania, as reported by authorities.
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He follows his wife, Denise Lodge, and others in admitting wrongdoing.
Prosecutors revealed that Lodge, no longer employed as a morgue manager, confessed to his involvement in a scheme to smuggle human remains from 2018 through at least March 2020. The stolen body parts, which included organs, brains, skin, faces, and heads, were taken to his residence in New Hampshire. Subsequently, Lodge and his wife unlawfully sold these remains to buyers in Salem, Massachusetts, as well as in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
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.”
