Former HMS Morgue Manager Moves to Dismiss Stolen Human Remains Case

An attorney for Cedric Lodge, the former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School who was arrested in 2023 for stealing and selling human remains, filed a motion to dismiss charges against Lodge last week.

Lodge and four others, including his wife Denise Lodge, were indicted in 2023 for illegally transporting human remains gifted to the morgue at HMS’ Anatomical Gift Program from 2018 to 2022. Federal prosecutors also allege that Lodge “stole dissected portions and donated cadavers, including, for example, heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains, without the knowledge and permission of HMS.”

Lodge pled not guilty to conspiring to transfer the stolen goods and to selling them to his co-defendants. His trial is scheduled to begin on May 5 in Pennsylvania district court.

Lodge — who worked as a morgue manager for nearly three decades — asked to dismiss the charges in a filing on March 3, arguing human remains are not classified as “goods, wares, merchandise, securities or money” and thus their sale cannot be charged under the United States Code. Patrick A. Casey, Lodge’s lawyer, wrote that remains are not “personal property.”

Casey also argued the charge of illegally transporting goods should be dismissed because the remains “have no compensable value.”

“The Government cannot simply aggregate the value of multiple human remains to satisfy this requirement,” Casey wrote in a brief.

As of Monday, prosecutors have yet to file a response.

HMS terminated Lodge’s employment a month before the indictment and his arrest, and investigators attested that “Lodge acted without the knowledge or cooperation of anyone else at HMS or Harvard.”

A class action lawsuit against Harvard filed by family members of cadaver donors later alleged that the University was negligent, breached fiduciary duty, and inflicted emotional distress. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2024 by Judge Kenneth W. Salinger, citing HMS’ immunity under Massachusetts’ Universal Anatomical Gift Act.

Casey and lawyers representing the families declined to comment.

HMS Dean George Q. Daley labeled Lodge’s actions as “an abhorrent betrayal” after the case was announced. A committee including then-Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 appointed three outside experts to evaluate HMS’ Anatomical Gift Program. In the committee’s summary report, they advised the school to standardize morgue policies.

HMS spokesperson Ekaterina D. Pesheva wrote in an emailed statement that “an anatomical donation is among the most altruistic acts, deserving of our profound attention and respect. Harvard Medical School expresses its deep compassion for the families affected by Cedric Lodge’s alleged criminal activity.”

Pesheva declined to comment on the status of the case, citing a policy against commenting on ongoing litigation.

—Staff writer Kaitlyn Y. Choi can be reached at kaitlyn.choi@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Sohum M. Sukhatankar can be reached at sohum.sukhatankar@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ssukhatankar06.