Flower Shop Owner Accused Of Stealing Plants From Cemetery

PEQUANNOCK TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Police say a flower shop owner stole plants and other items from graves at a New Jersey cemetery for months.

Capt. Christopher DePuyt says police installed surveillance cameras at the First Reformed Church Cemetery in Pequannock Township after two plants disappeared from the mausoleum and replacement plants were stolen two days later.

He says the cameras caught a woman in a minivan taking the plants and Riverdale officers recognized her as a former police dispatcher and current flower shop owner.

Authorities charged 59-year-old Lynda Wingate, of Riverdale, with the disorderly person's offense of theft of moveable property.

DePuyt says Wingate claimed she was cleaning up old flowers from graves of people she knew, but he says that isn't the case.

A message seeking comment was left at her flower shop.