Deputies search scrapyards for bronze markers taken from veterans’ headstones
LA PORTE, Ind. (WISH) — Deputies in La Porte County are checking with scrapyards to see if they’ve received any bronze markers from headstones.
In the past week, bronze markers were taken from veterans’ headstones at small cemeteries in the unincorporated communities of Union Mills and Rolling Prairie.
A social media post on Wednesday says, “You are encouraged to visit the gravesites of any family members and friends who are deceased veterans with similar bronze markers to insure theirs has not been tampered with and is still present.”
Bronze and other base metals have been selling for high prices in recent years. That’s led to thefts of copper wiring from air-conditioning units in Indianapolis. In Kansas in February, part of a bronze statue of Jackie Robinson was taken and later found burning in a trash can.
Recycling facilities that collect bronze — usually from statues, and old plumbing fixtures and commercial electrical pieces — were offering from $2.27 to $2.30 a pound Wednesday.
Anyone who finds evidence of suspicious behavior around veterans’ headstones in La Porte County or discovers a missing bronze marker was asked to call the sheriff’s office at 219-362-6205.
Union Mills is south of the county seat of La Porte, while Rolling Prairie is northeast of the city.
The city of La Porte is about a 3-hour drive northwest of downtown Indianapolis.