Cedric Lodge, 58, was sentenced Tuesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann to eight years in prison. Denise Lodge, 65, was sentenced by Brann to 12 months and one day in prison.
Both previously pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of stolen human remains.
According to a statement from Brian D. Miller, the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania: Cedric Lodge participated in the sale and interstate transportation of human remains stolen from the Boston mortuary from 2018 through at least March 2020, while working as the mortuary manager.
He removed human remains – including organs, brains, skin, hands, faces, dissected heads and other parts – from donated cadavers after they had been used for research and educational purposes, but before they could be discarded according to the anatomical donation agreement between the donor and the school.
Lodge took the remains without the knowledge or consent of his employer, the donor, or the donor’s family and transported them to the couple’s home in Goffstown, N.H.
After the couple sold the remains, they would ship them to buyers in other states, or the buyer would take possession and transport the remains directly.
Remains stolen and sold by the Lodges were transported from the mortuary to locations in Salem, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.
Lodge admitted to selling remains to Joshua Taylor, 46, of Wernersville, PA, Andrew Ensanian of Montgomery, Lycoming County, and others.
Taylor pleaded guilty May 15 to interstate transportation of stolen human remains.
Taylor admitted that he purchased the remains knowing they had been stolen from the morgue and transported them from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania from 2018 to 2022.
Taylor is awaiting sentencing.
Many of the remains purchased from Lodge were resold for a profit, including to Susquehanna County, which pleaded guilty in September 2023 to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property.
Pauley is awaiting sentencing.
“The trafficking of stolen human remains through the U.S. Mail is a disturbing act that victimizes already grieving families while creating a potentially dangerous situation for postal workers and customers,” said Christopher Nielsen, inspector in charge of the Postal Inspection Service’s Philadelphia Division. “I hope that our efforts, and these convictions, will bring some closure to those affected by this terrible crime.”
These defendants have pleaded guilty: Matthew Lampi of East Bethel, Minnesota; Angelo Pereyra of Wichita, Kansas; and Ensanian.
Lampi and Pereyra were sentenced to fifteen and eighteen months in prison respectively.
Katrina Maclean, 46, of Bradford, Massachusetts, also pleaded guilty on December 8 to interstate transportation of stolen human remains. She admitted to purchasing human remains stolen from the medical school and transporting them to Pennsylvania.
Officials said Maclean also sold the remains to others, including Pauley. Maclean is awaiting sentencing.
Candace Chapman-Scott, who stole remains from an Arkansas crematorium where she worked and sold them to Pauley in Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court in Arkansas and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
—David Mowery | dmowery@readingeagle.com | Reading Eagle
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