Mausoleum doors stolen from multiple cemeteries across Greater Philadelphia area

BROOMALL, Pa. - Marple Township police are investigating after they say a suspected ‘crew’ of thieves are wreaking havoc across multiple cemeteries. 

They say the thieves are stealing heavy mausoleum doors and selling them for scrap metal.

What we know:

Boarded-up doors to mausoleums have become common in cemeteries surrounding Philadelphia in recent weeks as a crew of thieves steals from the dead.

"Desecrating someone's final resting place, but you're also affecting the emotions of the loved ones who are living and left behind," said Brandon Graeff, Marple Township Police Chief.

Criminals with no conscience, police say, have stolen heavy bronze doors worth thousands of dollars from several local cemeteries, including Mount Sharon Cemetery in Springfield.

"They're taking them to local scrapyards for money. Quick cash," Graeff explained. "Abington had put out an email about one of their cemeteries getting hit, so then I reached out to that investigator, and we kinda started learning other cemeteries had been hit from there," he added.

So far, doors have been stolen in eight different communities in four connected counties, from Bucks down to Delco, Philadelphia to Montgomery.

"We suspect a crew. Same crew," said Detective Dan Lazzeari of Marple Police. "They're heavy. They're bronze metal doors valued between $10,000 and $15,000. We've been hearing estimates," Lazzeari noted.

"Oh, it's serious stuff. Even the case alone, we're talking anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000, a felony easy, and it's the same group. And you combine them all, you're looking at some time," he added.

It takes an unscrupulous scrap dealer on the other end, police say, to keep buying these stolen doors for pennies on the dollar from the thieves to resell the valuable bronze metal.

"If the scrap yards know about it, if it comes to them in one piece, if it's identifiable, it's gonna raise some flags. We deal with some very honorable businesses, but we also deal with unscrupulous ones too," Graeff said.

"It's the kind of thing we ask cooperation from local scrap yards or people who are maybe employees there who see something a little bit shady to give us a call," he added.

We saw where the doors were stolen in mid-February from two mausoleums at Saint Peter & Paul Cemetery across Sproul Road from Cardinal O'Hara High School.

"It's a very large cemetery where you could be in there for hours and not even be seen in the corner to get these doors off," Graeff explained.

"Our patrol guys are out there. They're well aware of it, and they patrol the cemeteries at night as well," he said.

"I think it's pretty low. It's a sacred ground where somebody's family paid a lot of money for the right to bury that loved one, and now you're taking call metal doors. I find it pretty low," Graeff concluded.