100-plus bronze vases stolen from cemetery
By Vic Ryckaert
vic.ryckaert(a)indystar.com
November 16, 2007
Police are investigating the thefts of more than 100 flower vases from grave
sites at a Westside cemetery.
Floral Park Cemetery is the latest target for thieves who have been raiding
construction sites and air-conditioning units for copper tubing, wire and
metal siding, Indianapolis metropolitan police said Thursday. Bronze vases
were taken from at least 102 grave sites and mausoleums in the 110-acre
cemetery at 3659 Cossell Road from Nov. 5 to Sunday.
"We lock the gates every night, but they don't stop thieves," Floral Park
manager Cinnamon Caughlan said. "Hopefully, they'll be haunted by the people
they stole these from."
Caughlan said the pots weigh about 5 pounds each and cost about $240 to
replace. Police have asked area scrap dealers to look for anyone trying to
sell the vases, which a local dealer said could fetch about $6 each.
In hope of deterring future thefts, Caughlan said, the cemetery intends to
replace the bronze vases with less valuable versions made of aluminum.
"We don't want to put bronze back out," she said. "It's just giving
them
another reason to come back."
Rising prices for scrap metal have made this kind of thievery a huge
problem. In July, copper thieves knocked out the Gleaners Food Bank of
Indiana freezer, causing thousands of pounds of food to go bad.
An AT&T official told state lawmakers earlier this year that thieves are
known to climb poles to rip down copper cable. In March, thieves stole
copper downspouts and tubing from seven air-conditioning units at Our Lady
of Lourdes Catholic Church on Indianapolis' Eastside.