Harvard to Pay $53M Over Stolen Body Parts

Cedric Lodge, manager of Harvard Medical School's Anatomical Gifts Program, dismembers donated cadavers and sells parts to buyers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, prosecutors allege. Investigators said the parts were taken "without the knowledge or permission of his employer, the donor, or the donor's family." The New York Post reported the stolen parts included "heads, faces, brains, skin and hands."

Jeremy Pauley is charged with multiple counts tied to the purchase and sale of corpses, court documents say. Investigators trace remains back through Katrina MacLean — who stored and sold remains at her Salem, Massachusetts store, Kat's Creepy Creations — and Joshua Taylor to the Lodges.

Lodge is fired. Civil suits are filed against Harvard alleging the university ignored his misconduct for years until he was indicted.

Lodge and six co-conspirators, none of whom worked for Harvard, are indicted and plead guilty.

After a state court judge dismissed the civil cases, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court revives them.

Lodge, 58, is sentenced to eight years in prison, according to the Justice Department. His wife, Denise Lodge, is sentenced to a year and a day.

Harvard and the plaintiffs jointly ask the Boston court to approve the $53 million class-action settlement.

The court grants preliminary approval.