WLOX.com - The News for South MississippiSurveillance video helps nab man selling a stolen cemetery fence

Surveillance video helps nab man selling a stolen cemetery fence

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By Patrice Clark - bio | email
John Havard (Photo source: George Co. Sheriff's Dept.) John Havard (Photo source: George Co. Sheriff's Dept.)

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GEORGE COUNTY, MS (WLOX) -

George County deputies said a surveillance camera at a scrap yard helped them nab the man they believe stole a fence from Fairley Cemetery. John Havard, 32, was arrested a week after the more than 100-year-old structure went missing.

George County Sheriff Dean Howell said scrap thefts are a crime of opportunity, and this time it was caught on tape. 

Sheriff Howell said video from a Pascagoula scrap yard shows John Havard pulling his truck into the yard. Stacked on the back were sections of a stolen iron fence from Fairly Cemetery. 

"He was delivering scrap metal to the scrap yard," Howell said. 

Howell said Havard is then seen getting out of the truck, and talking to a dealer before selling the panels. 

"He expected to get his pay for it, and spend it on whatever he had in mind," Howell said. 

The George County man reportedly got a little more than $130 for the fence in Pascagoula. Howell said Havard traveled to another city to get more money for the metal and to avoid police.

"As we branch out our investigation, they will always be found out." 

Deputies said thanks to the scrap yard video and tips from the community, Havard was spotted Thursday in George County and arrested. 

Aubrey and Debra Thurston were pleased to hear the news. They were the first to notice the gravesite was disrupted while hunting. 

"It wouldn't have been good for me walk here while I was hunting and caught them in their truck trying to load it up," Aubrey Thurston said. "We would have had a Sunday come to school meeting, and they would have been praying a lot harder than me." 

The couple said the cemetery fence was a valuable piece of history that can never be replaced. 

"I don't even know how people would want to do this," Debra Thurston said. 

Havard is charged with trespassing, malicious mischief and the desecration of a cemetery. Deputies said the value of the fence could exceed more than $8,000.

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