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York Police say a Clover man stole 39 vases from a York cemetery and then sold them to a recycling company, where he received more than $400 once they were reduced to metal scraps.
Clover Police on Saturday arrested Charles Wayne Cochran, 42, of 126 Heatherwood Court, after Sheriff’s deputies issued warrants on him for grand larceny and grave desecration, according to a York County Sheriff’s report.
On Nov. 28, employees at York’s Lakeview Memory Gardens, where many veterans are buried, reported that 18 bronze vases valued at $5,400 were stolen from the cemetery grounds, another report states. Officials found a cigarette butt on one of the markers. The next day, employees at the same cemetery said 21 more vases worth more than $6,000 were stolen.
Deputies spoke with an employee at a metal recycling center in Gastonia, who said Cochran asked him a few weeks backs if the company took cemetery vases. Police interviewed Cochran, who denied stealing the vases but did consent to a polygraph test.
The manager of a Dallas, N.C., recycling center told authorities that Cochran brought in cemetery vases on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29 to sell for scrap. He received a total of $451.50 for the vases.
Cochran is currently held at the York County Detention Center on a $25,000 bond.
