Grandson of Bucks Cemetery Operator Accused of Stealing Grave Markers
By Brad Segall
BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS) -- Two Bucks County residents are facing theft and related charges, accused of stealing 17 bronze markers from gravesites in a Bensalem cemetery and then selling those markers for scrap.
Police say they have surveillance video showing Andrew Townsend and Danielle Holmberg removing the bronze plaques from stones at King David Cemetery earlier this month.
According to investigators, the pair sold those plaques, worth more than $7,500, to a scrap dealer for just pennies on the dollar.
Bensalem public safety director Fred Harran says officials believe at least one and maybe both of the defendants were using the money to fuel a drug habit.
"It's outrageous, you know? Stealing from people is bad enough, but now you're stealing from the dead. How much lower do people have to go in this world?"
Police say Townsend's grandfather, the manager of the cemetery, reported to police that his grandson took a minivan from the cemetery without permission and used a business account to buy the tools which police believe were used to remove the plaques from the graves.