WILLIAMSPORT. Pa. (AP) — The wife of a former Harvard Medical School morgue manager has pleaded guilty to a federal charge after investigators said she shipped stolen human body parts — including hands, feet and heads — to buyers.
Denise Lodge, 64, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania to a charge of interstate transportation of stolen goods, according to court records.
Federal prosecutors last year announced charges against Lodge, her husband Cedric and five other people in an alleged scheme in which a nationwide network of people bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard and a mortuary in Arkansas.
Prosecutors allege that Denise Lodge negotiated online sales of a number of items between 2018 and March 2020 including two dozen hands, two feet, nine spines, portions of skulls, five dissected human faces and two dissected heads, PennLive.com reported.
Authorities said dissected portions of cadavers donated to the school were taken between 2018 and early 2023 without the school’s knowledge or permission. A Pennsylvania man, Jeremy Pauley of Thompson, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty last year to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property.
Denise Lodge’s attorney, Hope Lefeber, told WBUR in an interview in February that her client's husband “was doing this and she just kind of went along with it.” She said ”what happened here is wrong" but no one lost money and the matter was "more of a moral and ethical dilemma ... than a criminal case.”
Bodies donated to Harvard Medical School are used for education, teaching or research purposes. Once they are no longer needed, the cadavers are usually cremated and the ashes are returned to the donor’s family or buried in a cemetery.
FILE - Denise Lodge, left, covers her face with a printout of the indictment against her as she walks from the federal courthouse, Wednesday, June 14, 2023, in Concord, N.H., following her arrest on charges related to an alleged scheme to steal and sell donated body parts. Lodge, 64, the wife of a former Harvard Medical School morgue manager has pleaded guilty Friday, April 12, 2024, to a federal charge after investigators said she shipped stolen human body parts to buyers. (Steven Porter/The Boston Globe via AP, File)
HOUSTON (AP) — Fast-moving thunderstorms pummeled southeastern Texas on Thursday for the second time this month, killing at least four people, blowing out windows in high-rise buildings, downing trees and knocking out power to more than 850,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area.
Officials urged residents to keep off roads, as many were impassable and traffic lights were expected to be out for much of the night.
“Stay at home tonight, do not go to work tomorrow, unless you’re an essential worker. Stay home, take care of your children,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said in an evening briefing. “Our first responders will be working around the clock.”
The mayor said four people died. At least two of the deaths were caused by falling trees, and another happened when a crane blew over in strong winds, officials said.
Streets were flooded, and trees and power lines were down across the region. Whitmire said wind speeds reached 100 mph (160 kph), “with some twisters.”
Hundreds of windows were shattered at downtown hotels and office buildings, with glass littering the streets below, and the state was sending Department of Public Safety officers to secure the area.
“Downtown is a mess,” Whitmire said.
There was a backlog of 911 calls that first responders were working through, he added.
The storm system moved through swiftly, but flood watches and warnings remained for Houston and areas to the east.
Flights were briefly grounded at Houston's two major airports. Sustained winds topping 60 mph (96 kph) were recorded at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
About 855,000 customers were without electricity in and around Harris County, which contains Houston, according to poweroutage.us. The county is home to more than 4.7 million people.
The problems extended to the city's suburbs, with emergency officials in neighboring Montgomery County describing the damage to transmission lines as “catastrophic” and warning that power could be impacted for several days.
The Houston Independent School District canceled classes Friday for all its 274 campuses.
Heavy storms slammed the region during the first week of May, leading to numerous high-water rescues, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes.
A boy walks past a large tree that fell on a home after heavy wind and rain ripped through the region Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Houston. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Transmission power lines are down near the Grand Parkway and West Road after a storm Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Cypress, Texas. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Transmission power lines are down near the Grand Parkway and West Road after a storm Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Cypress, Texas. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP)
