PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man who allegedly stole dozens of bronze vases from the Mount Angeles Memorial Park cemetery was arrested Wednesday for investigation of second-degree theft.
Jason E. Diltz, 36, tried to sell about 30 vases to a Bremerton scrap yard earlier this week, Clallam County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Keegan said.
The vases were valued at $103 each.
A scrap yard employee recognized the vases as the kind found in cemeteries and notified law enforcement, Keegan said.
The employee had photocopied Diltz’s driver’s license and taken down his license plate number, Keegan said.
Sheriff’s deputies served a search warrant on Diltz’s residence on Pioneer Road near the cemetery and booked him into the Clallam County jail.
He was scheduled to make his first court appearance late Thursday afternoon.
In addition to the theft charge, the Sheriff’s Office is recommending that the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charge him with 28 counts of unlawful removal of a grave marker.
“Reports are also being forwarded to the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office at their request for possible charges of trafficking in stolen property in the first degree,” Keegan said.
Second-degree theft and unlawful removal of a grave marker are Class C felonies.
Trafficking in stolen property is a Class B felony.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
