A Berks County man has been sentenced to 2 years in prison due to his involvement in a group that was buying and selling human remains for profit, court documents say.
Joshua Taylor of the West Lawn area pleaded guilty to four counts of interstate transport of stolen human remains in May 2025, according to court documents from the United States District Court.
Taylor has now been sentenced to 24 months in prison and supervised release for 3 years, the court says.
Following his release from prison, court documents show Taylor must comply with several mandatory conditions, including participation in a mental health treatment program and no contact with the universities or families of deceased victims.
The court says Taylor must surrender to serve his sentence on the afternoon of August 31st.
Taylor is one of six individuals who have previously been charged as members of a group buying and selling human remains, the federal grand jury says.
The charges allege that from 2018 to 2022, Cedric Lodge, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School, stole organs and other parts of cadavers donated for medical research.
Authorities say Lodge transported stolen remains from Boston to his residence in New Hampshire, where he and his wife sold the body parts to Joshua Taylor and others.
Court documents allege that Lodge would allow Taylor to enter the morgue at Harvard Medical School to examine cadavers in person and choose which ones to purchase. Court documents show Taylor sending $1,000 with a memo that read “head number 7.”
Prosecutors say Taylor and the others then resold the stolen remains for profit.
Taylor was indicted on conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods charges in 2023. He pleaded not guilty and was granted pretrial release in that same year.
The man has been in the legal system since then, but had not been sentenced until this month.