[StBernard] Thieves target cemetery in Chalmette; two arrested

[Westley Annis]

Thieves target cemetery in Chalmette; two arrested
by Paul Rioux, The Times-Picayune 
Monday April 07, 2008, 3:09 PM
In a macabre twist on the rash of copper thefts that has plagued St. Bernard
Parish since Hurricane Katrina, authorities arrested two men accused of
stealing more than 200 brass flower vases from a Chalmette cemetery and
selling them as scrap metal. 

"We've come a long way from the apocalyptic days after Katrina, but this is
a sad reminder of just how low some people will go," Sheriff Jack Stephens
said. 

The suspects allegedly sold most of the vases, which cost $600, to a scrap
yard for $1.50 a pound, or about $25 each, sheriff's deputies said. 

Val Terry, 41, and Joseph Scorsone, 42, were arrested Saturday after
sheriff's deputies found 98 vases in the back of Scorsone's pickup truck
parked outside their Jupiter Drive home. The house is just a block from St.
Bernard Memorial Gardens, where 223 vases were reported stolen in the past
week, Stephens said. 

Cemetery groundskeeper Michael Kennedy called deputies Saturday about 6:45
a.m. after seeing a black pickup truck drive away from a spot in the back of
the cemetery where several vases were laying on the ground. 

"I knew something was wrong because it's very unusual for someone to visit
the cemetery that early," said Kennedy, who followed the pickup to a house
at 3919 Jupiter Drive where deputies later arrested both suspects. 

Terry, who was found hiding under a bed, denied stealing the vases but said
he had let a man use the pickup twice to steal copper, according to a police
report. He was booked with 223 counts of desecrating a grave, which carries
a penalty of up to six months in prison and a $500 fine for each count. 

Scorsone, who was booked with 98 counts of possession of stolen property,
said he did not know how the vases got in the back of his pickup. 

A few days before the arrests, Kennedy had seen a man riding a bicycle
through the cemetery wearing a bulging backpack. 

"We counted up the vases and found out we were missing quite a few," said
Kennedy, who later identified the bicyclist as Terry in a police photo
lineup. 

Deputies said 125 vases remain missing and may have been sold to an illegal
scrap yard in New Orleans. 

Since Katrina, St. Bernard has been hit hard by thieves stealing copper wire
and piping from houses under renovation. 

"Thieves will target anything that is easy to steal and in an area that is
for the most part vacant," Stephens said. "Who is policing a graveyard?" 

Vicki Labourdette noticed something was wrong when she visited the cemetery
Monday afternoon to leave flowers for her father in an undisturbed concrete
urn next to a crypt. 

"There's usually a whole row of brass vases right here, but now there's
nothing," she said. "It's such a shame when thieves can't even leave dead
people alone."

(Paul Rioux can be reached at 
prioux at timespicayune.com or at (504) 826-3321.)