A Walker County Sheriff's Department detective believes juveniles may be responsible for the recent vandalism of a Rossville cemetery, church and mobile home. Seventeen headstones were overturned or destroyed at Humphrey Cemetery on Salem Road, Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said.

Detective Jeff Herpst said the vandals could face felony charges of criminal damage to property.

Every upright grave marker that could be turned over had been, and several markers were broken into pieces. He could not estimate the cost to repair the markers, Herpst said.

The vandals also removed the flowers from the graves and discarded them.

The cemetery was established about 100 years ago, he said.

A reward is being offered through the Sheriff's Department for information that leads to the capture and conviction of those responsible for the cemetery's desecration, Wilson said.

Herpst said he believes juveniles vandalized the cemetery. He is not sure of the suspects' age because some markers were so large that they required some strength to topple.

Herpst believes the cemetery vandals also broke into a vacant mobile home in Pat Webb Trailer Park and punched holes in the walls. He estimates the damage will cost at least $1,000 to repair.

The mobile home vandals could face felony charges of burglary and criminal damage to property.

The detective said he questioned the juveniles responsible for the vandalism of an area church that happened earlier this summer. Those teens denied involvement in the cemetery desecration.

Charles Humphrey, of Fort Oglethorpe, reported the vandalism on July 6 after someone reported finding the damaged headstones and the cemetery's gate open, according to the vandalism incident report. Humphrey told investigators that the gate is never locked or left open.

Cemetery caretaker John Adkins told investigators the grave markers were not damaged when he had mowed the cemetery about 10 days earlier, according to the report.