Police have recovered most of the brass vases stolen from a Portland cemetery over the previous two weeks, with the help of a Sanford scrap dealer who is also a town councilor.
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Police recovered 48 bronze memorial vases reported stolen from the Brooklawn Memorial Cemetery in Portland between Nov. 7 and 13.
Fred Smith saw news reports about the theft of about 60 vases from the Brooklawn Memorial Cemetery and alerted police.
Police from Sanford and Portland collaborated, rescued about a dozen of the vases that were headed to be melted down as scrap, and recovered dozens of others with the suspect. The recovered vases, worth about $10,000, were found on Thursday, police said.
Police have not identified the suspect because he has not been charged yet, but he is in custody in York County Jail in Alfred on unrelated charges.
Police now have recovered 48 of the vases that were stolen. Cemetery workers initially reported that 60 were taken between Nov. 7 and Nov. 13, worth about $12,000. They later discovered another 16 missing.
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