Bodies that were donated to Harvard Medical School were violated, according to a 15-page indictment.
The indictment charges four people in a scheme that involved stealing and selling body parts that were to be used for educational purposes.
Prosecutors say Cedric Lodge was the morgue manager at Harvard Medical School. Dating back to 2018, prosecutors allege Lodge stole dissected portions of donated cadavers, including heads, brains, skin and bones.
He and his wife, Denise, reportedly made contact with two individuals over the internet to sell the stolen body parts.
The indictment says some of the body parts sent to Katrina MacLean and Joshua Taylor were shipped through the United States Postal Service.
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The family says the body decomposed in such a way that did not allow them to have an open-casket funeral.
"At times, Cedric Lodge used his access to the morgue to allow Katrina MacLean, Joshua Taylor, and others to enter the morgue and choose what remains to purchase," the indictment says.
MacLean and Taylor are accused of then reselling the human remains to others.
In one case, the indictment said MacLean shipped human skin to a man so he could tan it to make leather. That man, Jeremy Pauley, was arrested last year.
Prosecutors say they have records showing that the numerous transactions for all the stolen body parts equaled nearly $100,000.
The Lodges, MacLean and Taylor face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
