STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga.,None — Five-hundred bronze vases were stolen from a Stone Mountain cemetery. The cemetery is offering a $2,000 reward to anyone who can help find the thieves.
The cemetery director said he hopes to get the vases back before they're sold for scrap.
Last week, thieves entered the cemetery on East Ponce De Leon Avenue and removed hundreds of heavy bronze flower vases from grave markers.
Judging by the number of stolen vases, cemetery director Richard Nyarko said there was more than one thief.
Hundreds Of Vases Stolen From Cemetery
With the retail value of each vase around $200, he estimates the loss at $80,000,but it's not the material loss that hurts him.
"Forget the value of the vase, the disturbance of grave that is what is heartbreaking," Nyarko told Channel 2's Tom Regan.
Tom Regan, WSB-TV Cemetery onlooker Nyarko said he believe the thieves stole the vases to feed a drug habit. He is also angered by scrapyards that would accept cemetery vases without checking the background of the seller.
"If you have a business and you're taking this, you're part of the problem. You're the one encouraging it," Nyarko said.
He is hoping to outsmart the theives by using zinc vases from now on. The material has relatively little scrap value.