A former cemetery worker faces charges for allegedly stealing bronze vases from gravesites, then trying to sell them for scrap, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said.
Twenty-four-year-old Bensenville resident Vincent Peterson was charged with felony theft for allegedly swiping vases from the Randhill and Shalom Memorial Park cemeteries in Arlington Heights.
Dart says cemetery officials called police on Thursday to report thefts of the vases, which are about a foot tall and valued at $300 each.
About an hour later, the Villa Park Police Department got a tip that a man was selling grave marker vases at a recycling center.
Officers stopped Peterson and allegedly found 14 bronze vases in his vehicle. Another 10 had been sold for $7 each to the recycler.
Peterson once worked at Shalom Memorial Park.
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