Cemetery Metal Thefts

Police may have caught the man who's been stealing from cemeteries all over Middle Georgia. James Murphy was arrested after he admitted taking over one hundred vases from a Baldwin County cemetery. Police have recovered some of the pieces. Murphy says he planned on selling the items for scrap.

Over the last two weeks hundreds of bronze plaques and vases have been stolen from cemeteries in five Middle Georgia counties. One small cemetery in Macon lost fifty plaques, used to mark the graves of soldiers. The plaques are valued at 37-thousand dollars. Another cemetery lost nearly three-hundred vases.

George Meadows is with the Bibb county Sheriff's office. He says all types of recyclable metals are being stolen right now, but this is the worst he's seen.

"To stoop to this point of vandalizing grave sites. Stealing from war veteran's is about as low as you can get."

In the last few months police all across the nation and in Canada have reported a rash of metal thefts in cemeteries. Much of the metal is shipped overseas, where a boom in construction has fueled a rise in prices.