CHESAPEAKEIs nothing sacred?
It's a fair question when thieves are robbing from the dead, and that's what Michael Ruiz Cardona and Holly Minnie Chandler were charged with when they were arrested Wednesday by Chesapeake police.
According to police reports, Cardona and Chandler were stocking their van with the bronze vases that mark the plots of veterans' graves at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens.
Police patrolling the area around 8:45 p.m. took the suspects into custody, charging each with one count of grand larceny with intent to sell and one count of vandalism.
They could face additional counts, as each stolen vase represents a separate offense.
Cardona, 23, of Decatur Street in Portsmouth has three previous convictions, including one in 2008 for petty larceny and one in 2009 for grand larceny. Both were in Portsmouth.
Chandler, 21, is of the 2500 block of Woodshire Circle in Chesapeake.
The cemetery, at 3920 Airline Blvd., reported 101 vases stolen on six occasions since Aug. 30.
A police investigation concluded Cardona and Chandler are responsible for at least 53 of those vases, Chesapeake police spokeswoman Officer Dorienne Boykin said.
The arrests are a relief to Hinton Hurff, president of Greenlawn Memorial Gardens. Hurff said he has been distressed by the thefts of the costly vases, which are not covered by insurance.
"It's really emotional for the family. I hope this puts an end to it," he said.
A typical vase assembly kit costs $548, including $300 for the vase itself. The vases are not the property of the cemetery; they are the property of the plot owners. However, Hurff plans to offer the family members a discount if they choose to replace a missing vase.
Diane Pettway, who visited the cemetery last week to put birthday flowers in the vase on her father's grave, was stunned when she found no vase. The chain holding it in place had been cut."I started looking around, and I saw a lot missing," she said. "You have to be pretty low to do this. Nobody should steal to begin with, but you don't get any lower than stealing from a grave. On top of that, these are veterans."
Thieves usually pilfer the bronze vases from grave sites to melt them down for scrap metal, typically getting $1.50 a pound - $30 to $65 or more for a vase between 20 and 45 pounds.
Cemeteries in Raleigh, N.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; Albany, N.Y.; and Las Vegas have had vases stolen by the hundreds in the past year. Boykin said no additional Chesapeake cemeteries have reported problems.
In Norfolk, three reports were filed regarding stolen vases from Woodlawn Memorial Gardens at 6309 E. Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk police spokeswoman Karen Parker-Chesson said.
Three reports were also filed since May by Forest Lawn Cemetery at 8100 Granby St., Parker-Chesson said.
Hurff said securing the 47 acres at Greenlawn is not realistic. Cameras and floodlights are also not practical, he said.
Pettway said she is unsure what her father's replacement vase will be made from.
"Maybe ceramic or plastic, I don't know," she said. "It's just horrible what they did."
