The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania reported that Chief United States District Judge Matthew W. Brann sentenced Cedric Lodge, 58, and Denise Lodge, 65, both of Goffstown, New Hampshire, to interstate transportation of stolen human remains. Cedric Lodge was sentenced to 96 months in jail, while Denise Lodge received a 12-month and one-day sentence.
According to a press statement from United States Attorney Brian Miller, Cedric Lodge participated in the sale and interstate transportation of human remains stolen from the Harvard Medical School morgue in Boston, Massachusetts, between 2018 and March 2020. Cedric Lodge, then the manager of the Harvard Medical School Morgue, removed human remains from donated cadavers, including organs, brains, skin, hands, faces, dissected heads, and other parts, after they had been used for research and teaching but before they could be disposed of in accordance with the donor’s and the school’s anatomical gift donation agreement. Cedric Lodge collected the remains without the knowledge or approval of his company, the donor, or the donor’s family and transferred them to his New Hampshire home. After selling the remains, he and his wife, Denise Lodge, would ship them to buyers in other states, or the customer would take custody of the remains and transfer them themselves. The Lodges stole and sold remains from the Boston morgue and carried them to Salem, Massachusetts; New Hampshire; and Pennsylvania.
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Lodge sold the remnants to Joshua Taylor and Andrew Ensanian, among others. Many of the remains purchased from Lodge were resold for a profit, including to Jeremy Pauley, who previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen human remains and is set to be sentenced on December 22, 2025.
“The trafficking of stolen human remains through the US Mail is a disturbing act that victimizes already grieving families while also creating a potentially hazardous situation for Postal employees and customers,” said Christopher Nielsen, the Inspector in Charge of the Philadelphia Division of the Postal Inspection Service. “I hope our efforts, and these sentencings, bring some amount of closure to those affected by this terrible crime.”
“Today’s sentencing is another step forward in ensuring those who orchestrated and executed this heinous crime are brought to justice” said Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office. “I want to thank our partners at the Postal Inspection Service and the United States Attorney’s Office for their diligent efforts in this case.”
Joshua Taylor, Andrew Ensanian, Matthew Lampi, Katrina Maclean, and Angelo Pereyra have already pleaded guilty in related cases. Lampi was condemned to 15 months in prison, while Pereyra was sentenced to 18 months. Joshua Taylor is awaiting sentencing. Candace Chapman-Scott, who took remains from an Arkansas cremation where she worked and sold them to Pauley in Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in Arkansas federal court and received a 15-year term.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the East Pennsboro Township Police Department all investigated the case. Alisan Martin, an assistant US attorney, is prosecuting the case.
