14 DAY TRIAL // A Webster man has been arrested after allegedly stealing nearly two dozen grave markers and flag holders from St. Joseph's Garden of Peace Cemetery.
Alan E Savides of 19F Hugo Terrace, Webster, was pulled over by a state trooper in Sturbridge, on Sunday morning, because his vehicle fit the description of a car wanted in connection with the theft of a dealer's registration plate.
According to The Telegram, Dudley police received a call saying that a person in a blue Nissan sport utility vehicle had stolen a dealer license plate from a Volvo on Schofield Avenue. It released the description of the vehicle, and 15 minutes later state trooper Scott Shea spotted the SUV driving on Route 131 and pulled it over.
At a closer inspection, the officer noticed not only the dealer’s stolen license plate, but also a number of military veterans' grave markers and flag holders inside the car.
“It looks like Mr. Savides was taking them and probably going to scrap them for the metal. [...] Had they gone to the scrapyard, we might never have recovered them, and the families, for them, you can replace them, but it’s not the same knowing somebody’s gone through and desecrated the grave,” Webster Police Lt. Michael Shaw said.
Savides was arrested, but he denied having stolen the markers. Instead, he claimed he had bought them from local antique flea markets.
His fiancée, Debra Berthiaume, reportedly backed his allegations, saying that Mr. Savides sold antiques and cars and had a store at Millyard Building.
Surprisingly, although the woman seems to support him, Savides was reportedly overheard threatening to harm her and her family if she didn't post his bail when she visited him at the state police barracks in Sturbridge.
The 56-year-old man was charged in Dudley District Court on Monday with four counts of receiving stolen property valued at less than $250 (€182), 21 counts of removing a grave token flag or flower, extortion by threat of injury, witness intimidation and threatening to commit a crime.
As it turns out, this is not the first time Savides gets in trouble with the police. He actually has a long criminal history.
Last month, he was sentenced to 60 days in the House of Correction, for some of his other cases, most of which involved alleged assaults. He was also accused in a road rage case, after reportedly threatening to kill a man.