Overview
- Charles County detectives arrested Trey Franklin Mason and David Anthony Downing and charged them with theft scheme, destruction of property, fraud and related offenses after an investigation that led to their July 22 arrests.
- Investigators say the thefts occurred in two waves in June and early July and that detectives observed a rented van near Trinity Memorial Gardens, found trash cans filled with vases on July 8, and used rental records and scene evidence to identify suspects.
- Officers recovered over 100 bronze memorial vases before they could be melted at a scrap metal facility and returned the items to the cemetery with an estimated total value above $100,000.
- Maryland State Police have opened an investigation into the scrap metal buyer because state law bars dealers from purchasing cemetery bronze items such as vases, markers and plaques.
- Both suspects are being held without bond at the Charles County Detention Center and are scheduled to appear in court in September while the criminal probe remains active.