Overview
- Maclean’s plea agreement, filed Oct. 31 in federal court in Pennsylvania, has her admitting to transporting stolen human remains across state lines between July and October 2021 after a trial had been set for this month.
- Prosecutors will recommend a 12‑month prison term on a charge that carries up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine, and the agreement reserves her right to appeal the denial of her motion to dismiss.
- The deal limits additional charges except potential tax counts, while leaving sentencing to the judge.
- Court filings say Maclean bought remains from former Harvard morgue manager Cedric Lodge, including two dissected faces for $600, shipped skin to be tanned into leather, and stored and sold parts from her Peabody shop that the FBI raided in March 2023.
- Several others in the multistate scheme have pleaded guilty, Harvard has launched reforms to its Anatomical Gift Program, and Massachusetts’ high court recently allowed donor‑family lawsuits to proceed to discovery.