Federal prosecutors have charged seven people in an alleged nationwide network that trafficked stolen human body parts and remains taken from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary—a "heinous crime" that involved the desecration of stillborn babies, faces, brains, hearts, skin, genitalia, bones, and other body parts in exchanges that netted defendants thousands of dollars.
Key figures in the alleged network are: Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School; and Candace Chapman Scott, 36, of Little Rock, Arkansas, who worked at a local mortuary and crematorium.According to US Attorney Gerard Karam, between 2018 and 2022, Lodge stole organs and other parts from cadavers donated for medical research and education before their scheduled cremation. At times, Lodge allegedly allowed buyers to enter the morgue and look through cadavers, essentially shopping for the body parts they wanted to purchase. Shoppers sometimes bought them directly, transporting them out of the state on their own. At other times, Lodge shipped them or brought them to his home in New Hampshire, where he had help selling them from his wife, Denise Lodge, 63, who is also charged.
Two of Lodge's alleged buyers charged along with him are Katrina MacLean, age 44, of Salem, Massachusetts, and Joshua Taylor, age 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania. MacLean and Taylor allegedly got to do in-person remains shopping at the Harvard morgue.
MacLean is the owner of "Kat's Creepy Creations" in Peabody, Massachusetts. An artist's Facebook page with that name contained images of human skulls and morbid dolls. The description reads: "I am an artist of horror, macabre, oddities, and everything creepy. I love creating things that shoc[sic]." An Instagram account with the same name appeared to have been removed Thursday. According to the indictment, MacLean paid Lodge $600 for two dissected faces in 2020—she picked up her purchases directly at the morgue.
Taylor also bought items from Lodge, with records indicating 39 payments via PayPal to Lodge's wife, Denise, between September 2018 and July 2021. A memo for one of the purchases made in May 2019 and worth $1,000 read "head number 7." Another from November 2020 for $200 read "braiiiiiins." The total for the 39 purchases was over $37,000.
“So disturbing”
After purchasing stolen remains from Lodge, Taylor and MacLean interacted with another member of the vile network: Jeremy Pauley, age 41, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania—a central figure in the scheme. MacLean and Taylor resold their ill-gotten remains to Pauley. Records indicate Pauley made 25 payments to Taylor totaling $40,000. Meanwhile, in June or July 2021, MacLean shipped Pauley human skin and requested Pauley tan it to create leather. Pauley subsequently sent her a picture of the leather, and MacLean agreed to pay Pauley not with money but with more human skin. On July 30, 2021, MacLean messaged Lodge that she needed more human skin to pay the "dude I sent the chest piece to tan." Lodge agreed to look out for more skin.
Pauley is the link to the other part of the network, which stems from Candace Chapman Scott, the former morgue worker in Little Rock. Scott was charged with 12 criminal counts in April for allegedly selling 20 boxes of stolen body parts to Pauley, whom she met through Facebook. Scott allegedly sold brains, hearts, lungs, genitalia, large pieces of skin, and other body parts to Pauley, as well as the corpses of two stillborn babies. The babies were supposed to be cremated, but according to The Washington Post, at least one of the grieving families received fake ashes after the real remains were sold to Pauley, who then shipped them to Minnesota in exchange for five human skulls. Scott has pleaded not guilty.Pauley was connected to the seventh person in the ring, Mathew Lampi, age 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota. Pauley and Lampi apparently bought and sold from each other for an extended time, with exchanges totaling over $100,000.
“Some crimes defy understanding,” US Attorney 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.
In a message to the Harvard community, Harvard Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Edward M. Hundert called news of the indictments an "abhorrent betrayal."
"We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus—a community dedicated to healing and serving others," he wrote. "The reported incidents are a betrayal of HMS and, most importantly, each of the individuals who altruistically chose to will their bodies to HMS through the Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research."