WINTON, Calif.-
Two suspects were arrested for allegedly stealing about 30 grave ornaments from a Merced County cemetery and selling them for drug money, sheriff’s officials said.
Richard Post, 26, and Crystal Davis, 25, were arrested Friday after authorities received an anonymous tip, said Rich Howard, a spokesman for the Merced County Sheriff’s department.
The small concrete statues from Winton District Cemetery were worth $50 to $700 each. Post, Davis and a third possible suspect were selling them as lawn ornaments for $20 to $40, authorities said.
“It takes a lower-life kind of person to steal from a cemetery. It equates worse than stealing from your own family,” Howard said.
Thieves have hit the cemetery for more than a year, but there was an increase in recent weeks, said Toni Wilson, the cemetery district’s office manager. Burglars also stole dozens of large statues, including a commemorative bench and a fountain that was in front of the cemetery offices.
Davis posted bail and was released. Post remained in Merced County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail Tuesday.
