Harvard morgue manager and four others charged in theft and sale of human body parts

Denise Lodge, left, covers her face with a printout of the indictment against her as she walks from the federal courthouse, Wednesday, June 14, 2023, in Concord, N.H., following her arrest on charges related to an alleged scheme to steal and sell donated body parts. (Steven Porter/The Boston Globe via AP)

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A former manager at the Harvard Medical School morgue, his wife and three other people have been indicted in the theft and sale of human body parts. Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced the indictments Wednesday. They say 55-year-old Cedric Lodge stole dissected portions of cadavers that were donated to the Harvard Medical School from 2018 to early 2023. Authorities say the body parts were taken without the school’s knowledge or permission. They say Lodge sometimes took the body parts back to his New Hampshire home and also allowed buyers to visit the morgue to choose the remains they wanted to buy.