The former Harvard Medical School morgue manager who admitted to stealing and selling human body parts has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Cedric Lodge, 58, received a 96-month sentence Tuesday, while his wife, Denise Lodge, 65, was sentenced to one year and a day, according to CBS News. Both had pleaded guilty to charges related to the scheme.
Federal prosecutors said the couple took heads, organs, skin, and other body parts without permission between 2018 and March 2020 and sold them to buyers in multiple states for profit. Cedric Lodge was dismissed from Harvard in May 2023.
Authorities described the thefts as part of a broader network involving other individuals across the country. Denise Lodge and several others also pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the operation. Prosecutors said Denise Lodge negotiated online sales of dozens of body parts, including hands, feet, spines, skull portions, dissected faces, and two dissected heads.
The cadavers had been donated to Harvard Medical School for education and research. Normally, when bodies are no longer needed, they are cremated and the ashes returned to families or interred. The thefts were carried out without the school’s knowledge or permission.
Following Cedric Lodge’s arrest in 2023, Harvard Medical School’s Dean, George Q. Daley, condemned the actions as “an abhorrent betrayal.” After a plea deal was announced last month, Daley called Lodge’s actions “morally reprehensible and a disgraceful betrayal of the individuals who altruistically chose to will their bodies to Harvard Medical School’s Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research,” according to the Harvard Crimson.
A review of the Anatomical Gift Program in 2023 led to recommended changes, including improved morgue security.