Goffstown, New Hampshire, Couple Stole, Sold Body Parts From Harvard — Court

A Goffstown man was one of several people indicted by a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania in connection with the theft and sale of body parts from Harvard Medical School.

United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam for the Middle District of Pennsylvania said Cedric Lodge, 55, who managed the morgue for the school's Anatomical Gifts Program, transported organs and other parts of cadavers donated for medical research to his New Hampshire home. He and wife Denise, 63, sold the remains to others via cell phone and websites.

Cedric Lodge let buyers Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Massachusetts, Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Laen, Pennsylvania, and others into the morgue and examine the cadavers. They in turn resold the parts and collected over $100,000 in online payments.

According to the indictment obtained by CNN, heads, brains, skin, and bones were some of the body parts involved.

"An abhorrent betrayal.”

Lodge was fired by the college on May 6, according to a statement from the school titled "an abhorrent betrayal.”

"We are so very sorry for the pain this news will cause for our anatomical donors’ families and loved ones, and HMS pledges to engage with them during this deeply distressing time," the school wrote.

“Some crimes defy understanding,” Karam said in a statement. “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."

Karam asked anyone who believes they or a family member may have been affected to call the court's Victim and Witness Unit at 717-614-4249.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH