Florida fentanyl user stole vases from graveyard: cops

2022-07-28 10:31:57 By : Mr. Arron Liu

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A Florida man stole 125 memorial vases from a cemetery and sold them off to a scrap metal yard, police said.

Douglas Deck Jr., 31, who was found with fentanyl on him, faces multiple felony counts after selling the brass pieces that are attached to concrete headstones for $1,149 earlier this month, officials said.

The ornaments that totaled 661 pounds, according to WFLA, were used to hold fresh flowers for the deceased at Memorial Park Funeral Home near Deck’s home.

Investigators tracked the missing vases to a local scrap metal yard and recovered 124 of them, according to the Pinellas County sheriff.

Deck was seen on surveillance video inside the store and his bicycle was later found near the graveyard, Patch reported.

The theft cost the cemetery an estimated $150,000 in damages.

Deputies said Deck, who had .25 grams of fentanyl on him during his arrest, eventually copped to the heists.

He was charged with four counts of dealing in stolen property, one count of damage or removal of a tomb or monument and possession of a controlled substance, the sheriff’s office said. Bond was set at $107,000 as Deck remains in Pinellas County Jail, the Tampa Bay Times reported.