Pennsylvania man involved in national body parts trafficking case pleads guilty

Joshua Taylor, a resident of Wernersville in Berks County, pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to buying and selling stolen human body parts. It was the latest development in what federal prosecutors described as a sprawling national conspiracy that involved the trafficking of human remains stolen from the Harvard Medical School morgue and from a mortuary in Arkansas.

As part of the guilty plea, Taylor said he knowingly bought organs and other human body parts that were stolen from donated cadavers at Harvard, and transported them from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania between 2018 and 2022.

Taylor then went on to sell the parts to others, including another Pennsylvania man, Jeremy Pauley, a vocal collector of what he calls “oddities.” Pauly entered his own guilty plea in September 2023.

Taylor’s lawyer, Christopher Opiel, declined to comment. Taylor could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The federal case shed light on the world of oddities collectors, a decentralized community of people interested in antiquities, quack medicine, the paranormal, natural history, and taxidermy. Aficionados buy and sell objects of interest at flea markets, oddities shops, and global Facebook groups. Many of the dealings are in strange — but benign — goods.

» READ MORE: Jeremy Lee Pauley allegedly sold stolen body parts from rural PA. Then his wife turned him in.

But in June 2023, federal authorities charged six people, including Taylor and Pauley, with trafficking far more macabre wares.

The original indictment alleged that Cedric Lodge, the morgue manager at Harvard Medical School, stole dissected parts of cadavers,“including, for example, heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains,” that had been originally donated for medical use. They were supposed to ultimately be cremated, but instead, Lodge advertised them for sale to Taylor and others.

Lodge also gave Taylor access to the morgue so that Taylor could choose for himself which remains to purchase, according to court filings. Over the course of more than three years, Taylor sent 39 payments via PayPal to Lodge’s wife, Denise, totaling $37,355.56, for stolen body parts.

In one instance in 2019, Taylor sent $1000 with a memo that read “head number 7″ to Denise Lodge. The next year, he sent her $200 alongside a memo that read “braiiiiiins.”

Taylor then resold the body parts to Pauley, who lived in Enola at time. Pauley was a well-known figure in the oddities world; he courted attention with his half-face tattoo and the metal mohawk embedded in his skull. He called himself a “preservation specialist” and openly sold human body parts to private clients around the world.

Pauley sent Taylor upwards of $40,000 for the stolen parts that Taylor had originally purchased from Lodge, court filings said.

The illegal network of stolen body parts was discovered after Pauley’s wife at the time, Sarah, became upset with him and reported what she suspected were ill-obtained organs and human skin to police.

Even after pleading guilty, Pauley has not left the oddities world. He and his fiance currently run a ‘curiosities’ shop in Honesdale. He has not been sentenced yet, and there is not yet a date for his sentencing.

A number of the other participants in the network have already pleaded guilty, including Denise Lodge, who is awaiting sentencing. Cedric Lodge is scheduled to plead guilty next week.