The former head of the morgue at Harvard University’s medical school was sentenced to eight years in prison on Tuesday for stealing and selling body parts that were donated for research.
58-year-old Cedric Lodge pleaded guilty to stealing and selling organs, brains, skin, hands, faces and skulls from 2018 until March 2020 at the earliest. He was fired from the university in 2023.
Together with his wife, the 58-year-old took body parts from the University of Boston to his home in New Hampshire, as well as to other places in the north-eastern United States, without the knowledge of either the employer, the donor or the donor’s next of kin. He then sent the body parts on to buyers in other states.
His wife Denise Lodge was sentenced to one year in prison. According to the US Department of Justice, many of the body parts have been sold at a profit, and several of the buyers have since been sentenced to prison or are awaiting sentencing.