Families of deceased who donated their bodies to science before they were STOLEN from Harvard Medical School join forces as they sue

The families of the deceased who donated their bodies to Harvard Medical School, where they were stolen and desecrated, have joined together to sue the school.

The manager of Harvard Medical School’s mortuary allegedly stole and sold heads, brains, skin and other body parts, according to a federal indictment.

Cedric Lodge is alleged to have stolen the remains of cadavers donated to the prestigious university for scientific research and education.

The file states that Lodge took the severed body parts to his home in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife Denise resold them as part of a national network of human traffickers.

Now the victim’s families have joined their lawsuits in the form of a class action in the Superior Court of Massachusetts.

Kathryn Barnett, an attorney at Morgan & Morgan, who will serve as co-lead counsel for the plaintiff, said Friday: “These families have suffered an unthinkable betrayal by Harvard, and I am honored that they have placed their trust in Morgan & Morgan have stated. fight for them and seek justice for their loved ones.

“I am grateful that so many esteemed law firms have entrusted me to help lead this lawsuit.

“We are all working together to fight for every cause and are committed to holding Harvard accountable for their responsibility in this atrocity.”

It is not yet clear what damages the plaintiffs will seek in their case, but Barnett, one of the nation’s leading experts in lawsuits involving the mishandling and desecration of human remains, has previously reached multi-million dollar settlements for her clients .

She served as lead counsel in lawsuits arising from the 2002 Tri-State Crematory scandal in Georgia, which included the discovery of remains dumped around the crematorium as well as at several funeral homes in Brooklyn during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office believes that Lodge engaged in the illegal trafficking of human remains between 2018 and August 16, 2022, while working at the mortuary as part of the university’s Anatomical Gift Program.

Lodge had worked at Harvard since 1995 until the Medical School terminated his employment on May 6 of this year.

The indictment also names several buyers, including Joshua Taylor, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania, and Katrina MacLean, of Salem, Massachusetts, who owned and operated a business called Kat’s Creepy Creations in Peabody, Massachusetts.

“At times, Cedric Lodge used his access to the morgue to allow Katrina MacLean, Joshua Taylor and others to enter the morgue and select what was left to purchase,” the indictment said.

Maclean is also accused of selling the remains he acquired to other buyers in multiple states, including Jeremy Pauley of Enola and Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.

In October 2020, Maclean sold two dissected faces and skin for $600 to Pauley, who was hired to tan the skin and turn it into leather before returning it to Maclean.

The indictment states that Pauley wired MacLean $8,800 through PayPal and made 25 payments totaling $40,049.04 to Taylor.

Pauley, 40, was previously arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse, receiving stolen property and dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activity last summer.

Pauley also purchased body parts stolen from a crematorium in Little Rock, Arkansas, by Candace Chapman Scott, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

Scott is accused, among other things, of taking the bodies of two stillborn babies whose remains were to be cremated.

Pauley, in turn, sold many of the remains to others, the charges allege.

Pauley is the owner of The Grand Wunderkammer – a shop that sells ‘strange and unusual’ items to the public and to museum exhibits. According to his Facebook, he is also the executive director and curator of the Memento Mori Museum.

He was arrested last June after police received a tip about Pauley’s suspicious activities and his collections.

The caller said they found “several” five-gallon buckets of human remains in Pauley’s basement.

Researchers later recovered the remains, which included human brains, hearts, livers, skin and lungs.

The charges listed in the grand jury indictment against the Lodges, MacLean and Taylor include conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property.

“Some crimes defy all understanding,” United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam said in a statement about the charges.

‘The theft and trafficking of human remains touches the essence of what makes us human.

“It is particularly egregious that so many of the victims here have volunteered to have their remains used to train medical professionals and advance the interests of science and healing.

And he adds: ‘It is appalling that they and their families are being abused in the name of profit. With these charges, we seek to secure a measure of justice for all these victims.”

In a statement, George Q. Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School, described Lodge’s behavior as “an abhorrent betrayal” and “morally reprehensible.”

“We are shocked to hear that something so disturbing could happen on our campus – a community committed to healing and serving others.

“The reported incidents are a betrayal of HMS and, most importantly, of each of the individuals who altruistically chose to donate their bodies to HMS through the Anatomical Gift Program to further medical education and research.”

Adding: ‘We are deeply sorry for the pain this news will cause the families and loved ones of our anatomical donors, and HMS pledges to work with them at this deeply distressing time.’