3 charged in theft of vases from cemetery

Associated Press

LOWER BURRELL, Pa.

Police say three people have been charged with stealing more than 100 bronze vases from a Pittsburgh area cemetery.

Authorities say 27-year-old Daniel Scott Toy of Kittanning, 28-year-old Brandi Jo Verner of Vandergrift, and 20-year-old Zechariah Berger of Columbia are facing charges of theft and receiving stolen property.

The vases, worth about $750 each, were purportedly taken from Greenwood Cemetery in March and April and then sold to a scrap yard in order to buy heroin. An employee of the scrap yard alerted police.

Police estimated the total value of the missing vases at about $89,000.

Toy and Verner are in jail, unable to post $50,000 bond. Police say Berger will be charged upon release from drug rehabilitation.

No attorneys were listed on court papers.