A Berks County man is among seven people who federal authorities say were part of a nationwide network of people who bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary.
A federal grand jury in Scranton handed down an indictment against Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, alleging he conspired with several others to transport stolen goods across state lines, officials announced Wednesday.
The following also were indicted: Cedric Lodge, 55, and Denise Lodge, 63, both of Goffstown, N.H.; Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Mass.; and Mathew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minn.
Another defendant, Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Ark., was previously indicted in the Eastern District of Arkansas, officials said.
Another co-defendant, Jeremy Pauley, 41, of Bloomsburg, Columbia County, wasn’t indicted by a grand jury, but was charged in a criminal information filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam said in a release:
From 2018 through 2022, Cedric Lodge, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School in Boston, stole organs and other parts of cadavers donated for medical research and education before their scheduled cremations.
Lodge at times transported stolen remains from Boston to his residence in New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Denise Lodge, sold the remains to Maclean, Taylor and others. The arrangements were made via cellphone and social media websites.
At times, Cedric Lodge allowed Maclean and Taylor to enter the morgue at Harvard Medical School and examine cadavers to choose what to purchase.
On some occasions Taylor transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania. On other occasions, the Lodges shipped stolen remains to Taylor and others.
Maclean and Taylor resold the stolen remains for profit, including to Pauley. Pauley also purchased stolen human remains from Scott, who stole remains from her employer, a Little Rock mortuary and crematorium.
Scott stole parts of cadavers she was supposed to have cremated, many of which had been donated to and used for research and educational purposes by an area medical school, as well as the corpses of two stillborn babies who were supposed to be cremated and returned as cremains to their families.
A former manager at the Harvard Medical School morgue, his wife and 3 other people have been indicted in the theft and sale of human body parts, federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced. Among the accused are residents of Bloomsburg and Berks County.t.co/dgayu0HOyo
— Times Leader (@TLnews) June 15, 2023
h/t BFD