Bronze plaques stolen from West Kelowna cemetery recovered: RCMP
Credit to Author: Joseph Ruttle| Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2019 22:14:24 +0000
KELOWNA — Most of the bronze markers stolen from a cemetery in the Okanagan have been found by police.
While some of the markers are intact, others had been cut up into pieces, apparently for sale to metal recyclers.
“Officers found a large pile of bronze squares at the scene and it was evident that the suspect(s) had removed the names from some of the plaques and cut them into these small squares, likely in preparation for turning them in for recycling processing,” RCMP Const. Lesley Smith said in a release.
Tips from the public helped police recover the plaques, from a location that was not identified.
“Due to the public outrage and callous nature of the thefts, West Kelowna RCMP received a number of helpful tips that eventually led officers to the recovery of the metal plaques (on Wednesday),” Smith said.
Although the plaques have been recovered, police have not identified suspects in the thefts. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 250-762-3300, or anonymously at Crime Stoppers, 1-800-222-8477.
More than 50 of the bronze markers were pried loose from concrete blocks in a section of the Westbank Cemetery, run by the City of West Kelowna, on Sept. 15.
The theft appalled people whose loved ones are buried there.
“I thought I was going to throw up when I heard about what happened here,” Patricia Caley said at the time. “Someone who would steal headstones from a graveyard, they don’t have a Christian bone in their body.”
“This is a cemetery, it’s where we lay our loved ones to rest. Stealing headstones, it’s evil,” said David Swiberski.
Both Caley and Swiberski made trips to the Westbank Cemetery on Sunday after hearing about the thefts on social media. While their family members’ grave markers were intact, they were dismayed to see so many missing.
“I knew some of the people whose markers have been stolen,” said Caley, who grew up in Westbank. “It’s very sad. I guess somebody stole the plaques to melt them down and get a bit of a money to buy their drugs.”
After a resident in the Smith Creek neighbourhood posted about the thefts on Facebook, dozens expressed their outrage.
“This is more than sad. To steal from the dead? Unbelievable,” wrote one poster.
The thefts mirror an incident at a privately owned Kelowna cemetery in July, when four large memorial plaques inscribed with more than 60 names were stolen from Lakeview Memorial Gardens.
Thefts of bronze plaques are a recurring problem in cemeteries. Plaques with veterans’ names were stolen from the City of Edmonton’s cemetery last year, and in 2009 three Toronto men were charged with stealing more than 600 bronze nameplates and urns from cemeteries.
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