Cemetery thefts on the rise again

DRY RIDGE, Ky. - A Grant County Sheriff Office (GCSO) investigation led the city of Dry Ridge to annex a local cemetery.

Family members lay all types of trinkets that can be relatively pricey at grave sites, like wreaths, rosary beads, and statues. Love Fields travels here to Dry Ridge about 10 times annually. She enjoyed creating wreaths to the family plot that holds her grandma, mom, dad, and a sister.

"We used to," said Fields. "But it seems like the bigger the item the sooner it would be taken."

The items were not being thrown away by cemetery staff, or placed on another site.  According to Grant County Sheriff Chuck Dills, thieves were taking items to be resold at garage sales and other second-hand marketing venues.

"You know, I don't know what's in their mind," said Fields.  "I don't know if they really think about and realize what they are doing. I mean this is all we have left."
    
Stealing from cemeteries is not a new innovation in criminal activity.  Stopping it, however, has become a technological dream. In the past, someone would have had to witness the theft happening and report it.

"We had taken a GPS tracking device, it's a small little unit, and we placed it to a toy car that was left at a cemetery, at one of the loved one's grave," said Dills.

The toy was eventually taken and the unit inside became active once it left a 50 foot area around the grave.  Detectives were alerted via cellphone and then tracked down the woman who had the unit, Kimberly Goodrich.  When the caught up with her in Corinth, Ky., Dills said detectives said Goodrich had a van load of items that were all taken from area cemeteries. She served six months in jail for the crime.

"After we had made that arrest of that individual, it sort of tapered off," said Dills. "The thefts had really stopped."

However, during the past six months, the thefts have been on the rise again, according to Dills.  That is even after the Dry Ridge City Council annexed on of the cemeteries to help with patrols.

"I think it was a pretty cool idea what they did," said Fields.

Now authorities are considering other technological advances to help stop the stealing, because cameras and other equipment has become relatively inexpensive and more reliable.