Ex-Harvard morgue manager charged with selling stolen body parts to plead guilty

A former Harvard Medical School morgue manager accused of stealing and selling organs and other parts of cadavers donated to the school for medical research and education has agreed to plead guilty.

Cedric Lodge, who managed Harvard's morgue for more than two decades before his 2023 arrest, has agreed to plead guilty to transporting stolen goods across state lines, according to a plea agreement filed on Wednesday in federal court in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

He opted to plead guilty rather than proceed to trial as scheduled on May 5 alongside a woman who prosecutors said bought body parts from Lodge and his wife, who had pleaded guilty last year. 

Lodge, 57, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. His lawyer declined to comment on Thursday.

Prosecutors said Lodge from 2018 to 2022 stole parts from cadavers including heads, brains, skin and bones and transported them from Harvard's morgue in Massachusetts to his home in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife sold them.

Prosecutors said Lodge at times allowed potential buyers into the school's morgue to examine human bodies donated to Harvard and select what parts to buy. The buyers mostly resold the body parts, prosecutors said.

Families that entrusted their loved ones' remains to Harvard filed about a dozen lawsuits against the school following the arrest of Lodge and others charged in the scandal, accusing it of mishandling the bodies.

But a Massachusetts judge dismissed those cases last year, saying the lawsuits failed to plausibly allege Harvard failed to act in good faith in handling the bodies or was legally responsible for Lodge's "horrifying" conduct.

Those families are awaiting a decision from Massachusetts' highest court on whether it will reverse that decision.

Harvard Medical School Dean George Daley in a statement on Thursday called Lodge's actions "morally reprehensible and a disgraceful betrayal" to the individuals who had chosen to have their bodies donated to the school.

"While Lodge has agreed to plead guilty and taken responsibility for his crimes, this likely provides little consolation to the families impacted," he said. "We continue to express our deep compassion to all those affected."

An independent review Harvard launched of its cadaver donation program recommended in late 2023 that it implement more oversight and better documentation.