Daijiworld Media Network - Boston

Boston, Dec 18: A former manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue, Cedric Lodge, was sentenced to eight years in prison for illegally stealing and selling human body parts, in a case described by prosecutors as treating “beloved human beings as if they were baubles.”

Authorities said Lodge, 58, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, orchestrated a scheme in which brains, skin, hands, and faces from cadavers donated to Harvard were shipped to buyers in Pennsylvania and other states after the bodies were no longer needed for research. His wife, Denise Lodge, received a prison sentence of just over a year for assisting him. Both appeared in federal court in Williamsport, Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alisan Martin described some of the disturbing uses of the body parts, including skin being tanned into leather and bound into a book, and the sale of a man’s face, “perhaps to be kept on a shelf, perhaps to be used for something even more disturbing.”

Lodge admitted to removing body parts before cremation, which is against standard procedures. Typically, bodies donated to Harvard are either returned to families or cremated after research or teaching use. Prosecutors said Lodge collected thousands of dollars from the illicit sales between 2018 and March 2020.

Defense attorney Patrick Casey said Lodge acknowledged the seriousness of his actions and the harm inflicted on the deceased and their grieving families. Harvard suspended body donations for five months in 2023 when the charges came to light.

The investigation has also led to at least six other guilty pleas, including from an employee at an Arkansas crematorium, highlighting the broader scope of the body-parts trafficking network.