Wernersville Man Pleads Guilty To Trafficking Stolen Human Remains

Tuesday, May 20, 2025, 6:30 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

SCRANTON, PA.- A 46-year-old Wernersville, Pennsylvania, man will be facing up to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty last Thursday to interstate trafficking of stolen human remains.

     On Thursday, May 15, 2025, Joshua Taylor, 46, of Wernersville, Pennsylvania, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Matthew W. Brann to an indictment charging Taylor with Interstate Transport of Stolen Human Remains.

According To Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus

     According to Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus, during his plea allocution on Thursday, Taylor admitted that beginning in 2018 and lasting through 2022, he bought human remains that he knew to have been stolen from Harvard Medical School and transported them from New Hampshire to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Taylor further admitted to selling the stolen human remains to others, including Jeremy Pauley, who has previously entered a guilty plea to a felony indictment.

     The charging information unsealed in the indictment alleged that between 2018 and 2022, Cedric Lodge, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School, located on the University Campus in Boston, Massachusetts, stole organs and other parts of cadavers donated for medical research and educational purposes, before their scheduled cremations.

     The indictment had also further alleged that Lodge, at times, transported stolen remains from Boston to his residence in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Denise Lodge, sold the remains to Joshua Taylor and others, making prior arrangements via cellular phone and on social media platforms. On some occasions, Taylor transported the stolen remains back to Pennsylvania.

     Several other defendants have pleaded guilty in the scheme, including Denise Lodge, Andrew Ensanian, Matthew Lampi, and Angelo Pereyra. Lampi has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison, and Pereyra has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. Denise Lodge is currently awaiting sentencing. Additionally, Candace Chapman-Scott, who stole human remains from an Arkansas crematorium where she was employed and sold them to Pauley in Pennsylvania, entered a guilty plea and was subsequently sentenced to 180 months in federal prison.

     When sentenced, Taylor faces up to ten years in federal prison, at least two years of supervised release, and a fine. At sentencing, a U.S. District Court Judge will determine the term of imprisonment based on the seriousness of the offense and Taytlor’s prior criminal history, if any.