Thieves steal bronze vases from cemetery

OCALA, Fla. (WOGX FOX 51) - When it comes to dirty deeds, you can't get much lower than stealing from the dead.

O'Donald Clark owns Faith Memorial Gardens, where thieves stole the bronze vases from dozens of headstones.

“It is a new low,” Clark said, “it's very disheartening.  Many of the family members found out about it - they are distraught, but understanding.”

Clark said he first found out, when a woman told him the vase was missing from her husband's grave.

“I found a cup from her husband missing, along with a number of other cups,” Clark said, “and as we decided to look further, we saw a lot of the flowers sort of thrown from the missing vases.”

Each of the vases costs $200. At first the cemetery owner thought that about thirty had been stolen, but it turns out that after he did a full count, the thieves made off with more than fifty of them.

“Apparently they just walked in and sort of shopped,” Clark surmised.

Clark said someone's got to be desperate to do something like this, but Curtis Zow - who was at the cemetery paying respects - was less forgiving.

“That's very low, you know, and the person is,” Zow said, “they don't have no respect for the dead.”

Clark said he may update security at the cemetery to keep things like this from happening again.