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Montgomery County Man Admits Stealing Cemetery Urns, Selling For Scrap

By Brad Segall

NORTH COVENTRY Twp., Pa. (CBS) -- A Montgomery County, Pa. man is headed to state prison for at least two years after admitting he stole bronze vases from gravesites at two cemeteries in Montgomery and Chester Counties earlier this year.

James Tidmore pleaded guilty to theft and conspiracy, admitting that along with two co-defendants, he stole more than 200 bronze vases from Highland Memorial Cemetery in Pottstown and Mount Zion Cemetery in North Coventry Township.

The 48-year-old Pottstown man was sentenced to two to four years behind bars, followed by six years probation.

"Their families remember them by these vases, and it was extremely disturbing to these families, to these victims, for those grave sites to be desecrated the way they were," said county prosecutor Noah Marlier.

Marlier says Tidmore was scrapping the vases -- valued at more than $140,000 -- for pennies on the dollar in Philadelphia. His co-defendants are still moving through the court system.

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