On May 29, the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested Amos Andrew Beliew, 33, a resident of Bill Talley Road, and charged him with being in possession of six military veterans’ grave plaques which had been stolen from Brown McGehee Funeral Home.

Beliew, who worked as a part-time grave digger, apparently removed the plaques from the funeral home property, cut them up and attempted to sell them to a local scrap metal dealer.

Recognizing that the pieces were from military grave plaques, the owner of the scrap metal business notified the Sheriff’s Office of the attempted sale. A subsequent investigation revealed a total of six military grave plaques valued at $1,000 each.

Sheriff’s Office investigators were able to piece the plaques together and determine they were for soldiers who served in World War II and Korea.