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article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
Phoenix Police are investigating early morning thefts at St. Francis Cemetery and St. Theresa Parish. Authorities are searching for a black Jeep Grand Cherokee with a paper license plate. <\/p>\n
PHOENIX<\/strong> – Phoenix Police are searching for the suspects behind a string of thefts at a local church and cemetery. Detectives say tens of thousands of dollars in bronze and copper were stolen.<\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n At St. Francis Cemetery, Phoenix Police say suspects stole 17 bronze name plaques worth roughly $25,000. Just down the street at St. Theresa Parish, officers say the same crew struck again\u2014leaving volunteers to discover the damage just hours before morning mass.<\/p>\n It was at the cemetery on Aug. 12, during the early morning hours, that police say suspects broke into a mausoleum.<\/p>\n “One of their mausoleums that’s within the cemetery was broken into, and 17 bronze plaques were stolen,” said Phoenix Police Department Sgt. Sheree Lee.<\/p>\n Police have a clear lead on the getaway vehicle: an older black Jeep Grand Cherokee with a broken light on the back.<\/p>\n “That had a roof rack, after-market silver tires or rims, and a paper license plate,” Lee said.<\/p>\n Detectives are looking for an older black Jeep Grand Cherokee linked to thefts at a Phoenix cemetery and church. <\/p>\n \u2018It is totally disgraceful\u2019 <\/p>\n Lisa Sanchez, who was visiting her late husband’s grave, says she cannot imagine her loved one’s plaque being stolen.<\/p>\n “It is totally disgraceful. I mean these are markers and obviously cost a lot,” Sanchez said.<\/p>\n Two weeks later, on Aug. 26, police say the suspects struck again at St. Theresa Parish near 50th Street and Thomas Road. A volunteer says around 4 a.m. a door WAS damaged, and two copper door handles stolen\u2014just two hours before their first mass.<\/p>\n What you can do:<\/p>\n Police are asking neighbors to stay alert near houses of worship and memorial grounds.<\/p>\n “Anytime that you\u2019re seeing people after hours, such as a church or cemetery, we would want you to report that as a suspicious person,” Lee said.<\/p>\n Police are still looking for the suspects. They are asking anyone with information to call the Phoenix Police Department at 1-800-343-TIPS or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.<\/p>\n Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Phoenix<\/a>News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Phoenix Police are investigating early morning thefts at St. Francis Cemetery and St. Theresa Parish. Authorities are…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1037786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,6082,1588,50,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1037785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-maricopa-county","tag-news","tag-phoenix","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1037785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1037786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1037785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1037785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1037785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}