APOPKA, Fla. – A man has been arrested after Seminole County deputies say he stole more than 300 bronze flower vases from a cemetery, worth $60,000.
Robert Jacobsen, 34, has been charged with three counts of grand theft and three counts of injuring or removing a tomb or monument.
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The investigation was sparked when a visitor of Highland Memory Gardens in Apopka reported their loved one's bronze flower vase was missing in November 2015.
Deputies said upon further inspection, the cemetery supervisor found that 67 vases were missing from the cemetery and reported the thefts to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
In the following week, the cemetery reported another 268 vases had disappeared and were believed to have been stolen, according to SCSO.
Deputies said a scrap metal dealer contacted law enforcement after a man had tried to sell a large amount of bronze cemetery vases to their company, which the dealer denied, but took the suspect's license and tag information for authorities.
The investigation found that Jacobsen had stolen 335 vases and sold them to Orlando area scrap metal dealers between November and December 2015, according to deputies.
Jacobsen was taken to Seminole County jail on $18,000 bond.