Police: Taunton man scraps stolen cemetery vases for cash

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) – A 29-year-old Taunton man was arrested on Saturday following a two week investigation into stolen red brass cemetery vases.

Jason Howard is facing several charges, including larceny by false pretenses and receiving stolen property, for the theft of numerous vases that were stolen from the Sharon Memorial Park Cemetery on Canton Street in Sharon. He was placed on a $5,000 cash bail pending his arraignment in Fall River Second District Court.

Howard told police that he would regularly visit that cemetery and steal about 20 vases at a time. The red brass vases are valued at nearly $200, and the suspect received several thousand dollars as a result of selling the stolen vases.

Police in Sharon told investigators that they had nearly 200 vases stolen from that cemetery over a period of several weeks.

An officer arrested Howard at the Mid-City Scrap Yard in Westport on a default warrant for an unrelated larceny on Saturday.

Police seized the 20 vases he was planning to sell, as well as 21 other vases that were brought to the same scrap yard on Oct. 17.

The investigation is ongoing.

Cox Media Group