MONEE TOWNSHIP, Ill. (WLS) -- The Will County Sheriff's Office said they arrested a man allegedly caught stealing from a cemetery.
The sheriff's office said officers were called to Skyline Memorial Park and Crematory on Governors Highway for reports of a theft.
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When they arrived, deputies said they found a man stacking 190 copper vases in a pile. When he saw the officers, he tried to hide behind some nearby bushes. When the deputies found him, police said they also found a duffle bag with 12 copper vases in it next to him.
The man told police the bag belonged to him. Will County sheriff's deputies took Peter F. Dobrzeniecki into custody.
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The sheriff's office said Dobrzeniecki later told officers he had been stealing vases from the cemetery starting in January 2023, and that he had stolen 60 to 90 vases at a time on 10 separate occasions. He told police he had sold them for $15 per vase to a local business. An employee at Skyline Memorial Park estimated each vase is worth about $300.
Dobrzeniecki is charged with felony theft, violation of the Cemetery Protection Act theft, and also had two active warrants in Cook County, the sheriff's office said.