[GODREKR]

Joshua Taylor - The Buyer, Seller & Transporter

"Heinous crime": Berks County man among 6 charged with buying, selling stolen human remains

A Berks County man is among six people charged with trafficking stolen human remains and selling them online.

Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods, the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced Wednesday.

The indictment alleges that Taylor was part of a nationwide network of individuals who bought and sold human remains that were stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas Mortuary, according to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam.

According to the criminal complaint, the object of the conspiracy was "to profit from the interstate shipment, purchase, and sale of stolen human remains."

The charges allege that Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, managed a morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical Schools in Boston, Massachusetts. From 2018 to 2022, Lodge allegedly stole "heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains" of cadavers that were donated for medical research and education, without the knowledge or permission of HMS. The indictment also alleged that Lodge would transport the stolen remains from Boston to his residence in Goffstown, where he and his wife, Denise Lodge, would make arrangements to sell the remains to Taylor, as well as others, and "sometimes shipped those remains through the United States Postal Service to Pennsylvania and elsewhere."

Lodge would also allegedly allow Taylor, as well as 44-year-old Katrina Maclean, of Salem, Massachusetts, to come into the morgue at Harvard to examine the cadavers and choose what they wanted to buy.

Taylor would also sometimes allegedly bring the stolen remains back to Pennsylvania to be resold for a profit, prosecutors said.

Taylor allegedly sent more than $37,000 to Denise Lodge to pay for body parts stolen from the morgue by her husband, according to the criminal complaint.

"On November 20, 2020, Taylor sent Denise Lodge $200 with a memo that read, "braiiiiiins," the complaint said.

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[GODREKR]

Cedric Lodge - The Harvard Medical School Morgue Manager

From his Wiki page (yes, he already has one):

Cedric Lodge is an American bodysnatcher and organ trafficker. In June 2023, he was indicted for trafficking body parts while working as a morgue manager at Harvard Medical School. Lodge had access to bodies willed by their owners for academic research while working at the school and sold them on the internet until he was arrested along with four others and two others in a similar black market body parts scheme.

Harvard Medical School incident

Lodge worked as the morgue manager under the Anatomical Gift Program at Harvard Medical School from 1995 till he was fired on May 6, 2023. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania accused of him of carrying out a black market body parts scheme from roughly 2018 to 2022. Within that period, Lodge allegedly shipped the parts through the mail to various recipients and often had them visit the morgue to choose their preferred body parts.

The parts stolen and sold included heads, brains, skin bones and other human parts. Other reports state that the operation allegedly sold still born babies that were supposed to be cremated and returned to their families. One of the indicted buyers had posted a photo of a real human skull on Instagram and another had purchased skin with the intent to make leather.

On June 14, Cedric and 4 others, including his wife were indicted by a grand jury on allegations of theft and sale of body parts. The charges includes charges of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods. The case is USA v. Lodge, 23-cr-00159, US District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Reactions

Harvard

In a memo titled 'An abhorrent betrayal' by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, George Q. Daley, Harvard condemned the crime as a ‘betrayal’ to the school and donors. Harvard also discolosed Lodge acted “without the knowledge or permission of HMS”. Lodge was fired. Harvard appointed an external panel to evaluate their anatomical donor program and their morgue policies.

Donors

Paula Peltonovich and her sister Darlene Lynch were children to police officer parents who had willed their bodies to science. On getting the news that their remains of their father, who died in 2019, were among those reported stolen, they requested the withdrawal of their mother's body, who died in March 2023, from the school.

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[GODREKR]

And finally a press release from The U.S. Attorney's Office Middle District of Pennsylvania:

Six Charged With Trafficking In Stolen Human Remains

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Cedric Lodge, age 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, Katrina Maclean, age 44, of Salem, Massachusetts, Joshua Taylor, age 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania, Denise Lodge, age 63, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, and Mathew Lampi, age 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota, were indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods charges. Additionally, Jeremy Pauley, age 41, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, was charged by Criminal Information, and Candace Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Arkansas, was previously indicted in the Eastern District of Arkansas.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, the indictments and information allege that a nationwide network of individuals bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary. The charges allege that from 2018 through 2022, Cedric Lodge, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School, located in Boston, Massachusetts, 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 Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Denise Lodge, sold the remains to Katrina Maclean, Joshua Taylor, and others, making arrangements via cellular telephone 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 out of state.

Maclean and Taylor resold the stolen remains for profit, including to Jeremy Pauley in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Jeremy Pauley also purchased stolen human remains from Candace Chapman Scott, who stole remains from her employer, a Little Rock, Arkansas 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. Scott sold the stolen remains to Pauley and shipped them to Pauley in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Pauley sold many of the stolen remains he purchased to other individuals, including Matthew Lampi. Lampi and Pauley bought and sold from each other over an extended period of time and exchanged over $100,000 in online payments.

“Some crimes defy understanding,” said United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam. “The theft and trafficking of human remains strikes at the very essence of what makes us human. It is particularly egregious that so many of the victims here volunteered to allow their remains to be used to educate medical professionals and advance the interests of science and healing. For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling. With these charges, we are seeking to secure some measure of justice for all these victims.

I’d like to thank Harvard Medical School, which is also a victim here, for their cooperation in this investigation. Additionally, this prosecution would not be possible without the close cooperation and hard work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the United States Attorney’s Offices in multiple districts, including the Eastern District of Arkansas. From the beginning, this has been a multi-jurisdictional investigation, and our two offices have worked side by side to bring justice for these victims.”

"The defendants violated the trust of the deceased and their families all in the name of greed," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire. "While today's charges cannot undo the unfathomable pain this heinous crime has caused, the FBI will continue to work tirelessly to see that justice is served."

“Today, the United States Attorney has announced charges against several individuals who used the United States mail to ship stolen human remains,” said Christopher Nielsen, the Inspector in Charge of the Philadelphia Division of the Postal Inspection Service. “Robbing families of the remains of their loved ones is an unconscionable act and confounds our collective sense of decency. Using the United States mail to facilitate the theft and shipment of human remains is a federal crime and the Postal Inspection Service will do everything in its power to stop it. I want to thank our law enforcement partners and the United States Attorney for working with the Postal Inspection Service to stop this group, and I hope our efforts bring a small amount of relief to the victimized families.”

The United States Attorney’s Office has and will continue to attempt to identify and contact as many of the victims and victims’ families affected by this case as possible. If anyone believes they or a family member may have been affected by the conduct charged in these indictments and information, please contact our Victim and Witness Unit at USAPAM.Victim.Information@usdoj.gov or (717) 614-4249.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the East Pennsboro Township Police Department, and the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean A. Camoni is prosecuting the case.

The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is 15 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

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[crice63]

freaking sick man