Call Kurtis: Grave Robbing For Scrap Metal On The Rise

FAIR OAKS (CBS13) -- No place to leave flowers, Judy Ellis said it was because crooks stole the bronze vases right from her grandparents crypts at Mount Vernon Memorial Park in Fair Oaks.

"I cry whenever I come out and see them," Judy said. "We're left with just a nub."

Marsha Kirby told us last year that thieves had stolen the brass name plate right from her mother's crypt at Sacramento Memorial Lawn.

"She's nameless and that really hurts." Marsha said.

Both cemeteries said they were not responsible for theft, and the families would have to pay if they wanted the stolen items replaced.

"But, it shouldn't be our responsibility." Judy said. "They don't live with us, they live here now."

The Cemetery and Mortuary Association of California admits grave robbing is on the rise because the scrap metal is valuable.

Despite families paying into an endowment fund for upkeep, the group said only some cemeteries are paying to replace stolen vases and name plates.

We went undercover to see how easy it is to get cash for a cemetery vase, and how much it would sell for at a scrap metal yard.

Two recycling yards refused to buy the cemetery vase.

"I cannot buy that," an employee told our undercover producer. "It's from a cemetery."

But, that's not what we were told at a North Highlands scrap metal yard. An employee took the cemetery vase, weighed it an offered our undercover producer $8.09.

It is not against the law to buy cemetery items. But at Ming's Recycling Corporation in South Sacramento, President Kenny Luong said his business won't buy them.

"Our employees are trained to identify certain items that we're not supposed to purchase." Luong said. "This [cemetery vase] is one of them."

We reached out to both cemeteries. Sacramento Memorial Lawn agreed to replace Marsha's mother's name plate at cost. Instead of the $1600 they initially wanted, she paid $400 dollars.

Mount Vernon Memorial Park offered to replace Judy's grandparents' bud vases for free.

They told CBS13: "It saddens us that thieves are preying on cemeteries and grave sites to commit these crimes. Theft of any kind is unacceptable but thefts on cemetery property are particularly despicable. Unfortunately, the theft of bronze from cemeteries is an issue at cemeteries across North America. We hope that area scrap metal dealers will continue to be watchful for people selling bronze vases from cemetery property and to contact local law enforcement to report any suspicious activity. We take the safety and security of our park very seriously, however, cemeteries, by their nature, are open to the public, so it would be unrealistic to restrict all access to the property. The park gates are closed at dusk every night. We are working with affected families on a case by case basis to replace their stolen property. We encourage any family with property at our park to contact us if they have any concerns."

"It's what we expected," Judy said.

Both Judy and Marsha think cemeteries should be doing more to protect their loved ones' final resting places.

"We can't be out here 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Judy said.

Mount Vernon told us they are looking at replacing vases with less desirable metal. Judy had her grandparents' vases engraved, hoping it will keep thieves from stealing them again.

Not all cemetery vases and grave markers are made from valuable metal. As theft increases, more cemeteries have turned to less valued metals like Zinc and galvanized metal vases.