The Department of Justice has announced that six individuals, including a man from Minnesota, have been charged with trafficking stolen human remains intended for medical education. Matthew Lampi, 52, from East Bethel, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania on charges of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods. The other indicted individuals are Katrina Maclean, 44, from Salem, Massachusetts; Joshua Taylor, 46, from West Lawn, Pennsylvania; Denise Lodge, 63, and Cedric Lodge, 55, both from Goffstown, New Hampshire.
Court records reveal that the accused were allegedly part of a nationwide network between 2018 and 2022 involved in the buying and selling of body parts from cadavers that were donated to medical schools but had not yet been scheduled for cremation. The remains stolen include: bones, skulls, skin, internal organs, brains, whole stillborn corpses, and various other body parts.
The charges state that the body parts were obtained from the morgue at Harvard Medical School and a mortuary in Little Rock, Arkansas, which collaborated with a local medical school. Cedric Lodge, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard, is alleged to have stolen the remains and brought them to his home. Subsequently, his wife, Denise Lodge, would facilitate their sale to individuals such as Maclean, Taylor, and others.
According to the Department of Justice, Cedric Lodge allegedly permitted Maclean and Taylor to enter the Harvard Medical School morgue on certain occasions to “examine cadavers and select items for purchase.” Maclean and Taylor would then resell the body parts, including to another individual named Pauley.
In a separate case, Candace Scott, who worked at a mortuary in Arkansas, is accused of stealing cadaver parts. Instead of carrying out the scheduled cremations, she allegedly stole body parts on multiple occasions and sold them to Pauley. One particularly disturbing incident involved the theft of a stillborn baby’s corpse, which she reportedly sold to Pauley for $300. Pauley, in turn, traded the infant’s remains, along with $1,500, to Lampi in exchange for human skulls, as per court records.
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Lampi and Pauley are alleged to have engaged in an extensive period of buying and selling human remains, conducting transactions totaling over $125,000 through online payments. Prosecutors have revealed that Pauley sent 16 packages from Pennsylvania to Lampi’s residence in East Bethel, Minnesota.
In a statement, United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam expressed his dismay, stating, “Some crimes defy understanding. The theft and trafficking of human remains strikes 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.”
The authorities have not provided an exact count of the number of corpses involved but are actively working to identify and contact the families of as many victims as possible.
If convicted, Lampi and the other defendants could face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Two additional individuals, including Candace Scott, were previously indicted in Arkansas in connection with the same crime.