East Bethel man pleads guilty to charge in case involving trafficking human remains

Federal court records show a Minnesota man charged for having a role in a nationwide network of people who bought and sold human remains from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary has pleaded guilty to one of the charges filed against him.

According to court documents, Mattew Lampi of East Bethel entered a guilty plea on Tuesday to one count of Aiding and Abetting Interstate Transport of Stolen Goods. In exchange, the agreement calls for prosecutors to file for dismissal of the remaining charge of conspiracy. However, the agreement states federal prosecutors may not bring any other criminal charges against Lampi except for any potential tax charges.

The maximum sentence for the stolen goods transport charge is 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release for three years.

As previously reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, Lampi was one of six people to be indicted by federal prosecutors. The others charged are:

• Cedric Lodge of Goffstown, New Hampshire
• Katrina Maclean of Salem, Massachusetts
• Joshua Taylor of West Lawn, Pennsylvania
• Denise Lodge of Goffstown, New Hampshire
• Jeremy Pauley of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania

Prosecutors allege Cedric Lodge managed the morgue for the Harvard Medical School, which procured organs and other parts of cadavers for medical research. He then reportedly stole organs and other body parts before their scheduled cremations and sold the remains, along with his wife, Denise Lodge. The transactions were arranged online through social media and over phone calls.

Prosecutors say the buyers included Katrina Maclean, Joshua Taylor and others. According to a news release, Lodge sometimes allowed Maclean and Taylor to visit the morgue and look at the corpses they were interested in buying.

Maclean and Taylor then resold those stolen remains to others, including Jeremy Pauley, according to federal officials. Additionally, Pauley would buy stolen human remains from Candace Chapman Scott, who allegedly stole those remains from a mortuary and crematorium she worked at in Arkansas. Prosecutors note separate charges have already been filed against Scott in Arkansas.

The indictment says Pauley allegedly sold the stolen remains to others, including Lampi. Lampi and Pauley reportedly exchanged over $100,000 for the purchases over several years.