Former Harvard Medical School morgue manager, accused of stealing body parts, to plead guilty
Cedric Lodge from Goffstown was the former morgue manager for Harvard Medical School and was indicted in 2023
By Alanna Flood & Matt Leighton
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MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (WMUR) — A New Hampshire man who was arrested and charged with stealing and selling body parts will plead guilty, according to federal court documents.
Cedric Lodge from Goffstown was the former morgue manager for Harvard Medical School and was indicted in 2023, accused of stealing human remains from the school and selling them to people in multiple states from 2018 through 2023.
According to federal court documents, Lodge has agreed to plea guilty to a charge of interstate transport of stolen goods. The four other charges Lodge faced would be dropped.
The indictment accused Cedric Lodge of stealing dissected portions of donated cadavers, including heads, brains, skin and bones, from Harvard Medical School.
In March, Lodge filed a motion to dismiss the charges. His legal team argued that the charges don’t hold up, arguing human body parts are not legally considered property and, therefore, cannot be assigned a market value.
The maximum penalty for the offense Lodge is pleading guilty to is prison for 10 years, a fine of $250,000 and a maximum term of supervised release of three years, according to court documents.
A hearing on his plea change has not been scheduled but his trial had been scheduled for May.
Lodge’s wife, Denise, pleaded guilty last year to one charge in federal court in Pennsylvania. She agreed to plead guilty to interstate transport of stolen goods, and as part of the plea deal, prosecutors said they would move to dismiss the conspiracy charge she faced.
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