Joshua Taylor, Human Remains Trafficking, Pennsylvania 2026

WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania – Joshua Taylor, a 49-year-old man from West Lawn, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for his role in a nationwide network of individuals who bought and sold human remains, including remains stolen from Harvard Medical School.

According to court documents, Taylor admitted to purchasing human remains from multiple individuals, knowing that those remains were stolen. Other individuals were indicted with Taylor on charges of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen property as part of the same investigation.

The investigation revealed that from 2018 through 2022, Cedric Lodge, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, stole organs and other parts of cadavers donated for medical research and education before their scheduled cremations. Lodge allegedly transported stolen remains from Boston to his residence in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Denise Lodge, sold the remains to Katrina Maclean, Joshua Taylor, and others.

Maclean and Taylor sold the stolen remains for profit, including to Jeremy Pauley in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Pauley also purchased stolen human remains from Candace Chapman Scott, who stole remains from her employer, a Little Rock, Arkansas mortuary and crematorium.

Several other defendants have previously entered guilty pleas in related cases, including Joshua Taylor, who was sentenced to 24 months in prison. Other defendants who have been sentenced include Andrew Ensanian, Matthew Lampi, Katrina Maclean, Cedric and Denise Lodge, and Angelo Pereyra. Lampi was sentenced to 15 months in prison; Pereyra was sentenced to 18 months in prison; Ensanian was sentenced to 6 months in prison; Denise and Cedric Lodge were sentenced to 96 months and 12 months in prison respectively. Maclean is awaiting sentencing.

Candace Chapman-Scott, who stole remains from an Arkansas crematorium where she was employed and sold them to Pauley in Pennsylvania, entered a plea of guilty in Arkansas federal court and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the East Pennsboro Township Police Department, and the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Alisan V. Martin is prosecuting the case.

Joshua Taylor, 49, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 24 months in prison by Chief United States District Judge Matthew W. Brann on July 27, 2026, for conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property.