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Couple charged in cemetery thefts

Monday, 08 May 2006

By This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, May 06, 2006

After allegedly stealing from 35 graves at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens in Fort Pierce, Mark Harrison reportedly toted more than 200 pounds in brass vases to a recycling center in exchange for less that $1 per pound.

Each family that bought one of the flower-holders paid about $300 for a total of more than $10,000, according to an arrest report.

Now Harrison and his wife Kelly Leeland Harrison, both 38, are being held at the St. Lucie County Jail. Including theft and fraud charges, plus probation violations, Mark Harrison is being held without bail on 80 charges. Kelly Harrison is being held on $467,500 bail on 76 charges.

Arrest reports show the Harrisons first drew attention when a St. Lucie County sheriff's deputy went to Atlantic Coast Recycling to check out some suspicious copper wire. Office manager Nick van Vliet said an employee saw a man and a woman stripping the insulation from coiled copper wire off spools across the street from the store.

The sheriff's deputy recognized the wire from a construction site theft that he also had investigated.

According to van Vliet, Mark Harrison was a frequent seller who came by at least once a day for several weeks with copper and aluminum.

Copper wire, which has recently become a frequently stolen item in St. Lucie County, sells for $2 a pound - almost three times what it sold for a year and a half ago, van Vliet said. When Harrison came in with the new wires, van Vliet said he knew that "only an electrician or a utility worker would have that."

In addition to the wire and the grave vases, Harrison also brought high-tension electrical cables. The arrest report said items recovered at the Harrisons' home might be linked to other unsolved burglaries.

Susan Pierce, general manager at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens, said cemetery personnel found out about the thefts within the past three days. She said no family will have to pay for replacement vases and that the cemetery plans to press charges against the Harrisons.

State records show that Mark Harrison's most recent arrest, in March, stemmed from cocaine possession. Both Harrisons are listed as unemployed on their arrest reports.

Sheriff Ken Mascara said Mark Harrison appeared to be "using the wares of his thefts to keep him going financially." The arrest report said investigators found about 30 pawn store and recycling center receipts in the Harrisons' home on Santa Clara Boulevard.

Kelly Harrison reportedly told investigators that she did not take part in the thefts but did help strip wire from the spools.

She also explained why investigators found a newspaper vending box in the Harrisons' yard.

According to Mascara, Kelly Harrison explained that her husband stole the newspaper box from a street corner to get the change inside but then couldn't get the box open and left it in the yard, filled with newspapers from April 25.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/treasurecoast/content/local_news/epaper/2006/05/06/m1b_slgraves_0506.html

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