Former Harvard Morgue Employee Indicted for Organ Theft

Cedric Lodge, the manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue, was indicted and later pleaded guilty to interstate transport of stolen human remains after an investigation revealed he had been selling body parts taken from donated cadavers. Between 2018 and at least March 2020, Lodge removed organs, brains, skin, hands, and other parts from bodies donated to Harvard for medical research without the knowledge of the university, the donors, or their families.

Lodge transported the stolen remains to his home in New Hampshire, where he and his wife sold them by shipping tissue and body parts to buyers in other states. He was fired from Harvard in May 2023 when the scheme came to light. The case drew widespread attention as a profound breach of trust — donors had consented to body donation for science and education, not commercial sale.