'That's just disgusting': Family lays trap for thieves stealing from cemetery in Clute, Texas

CLUTE, Texas (KTRK) -- Police in Clute say they have arrested three men who were stealing from a cemetery and then trying to sell the stolen goods to a scrap metal facility.

Police say the thieves might have stolen more if not for one family's efforts.

"The lengths that my family will go (to) is very far to get what we feel is right for my dad. My dad was my favorite person in the world," one woman said. "Why would we want him to be out there with no vase and no flowers? This man worked his whole life to provide for me and my mom and my sister."

ABC13 is concealing the woman's identity. She's afraid of becoming a target because of what she did next.

After her father's graveside vase was stolen twice at the Restwood Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Clute, she and her family attached a GPS tracker to the new vase and waited.

RELATED: Deputies searching for suspected thieves caught on surveillance video breaking into cemetery

Sure enough, it was stolen soon, and police tracked it to a home about 45 minutes away in Brazoria.

When they arrived, police say they found a large fire in the home.

Vases were burning inside, and other crushed and melted vases were in a large cooler next to it.

Police say they also found a large sledgehammer, saws, and multiple jugs of gasoline.

Court documents show a man had been to a scrap metal facility in nearby Sweeny, Texas, and tried to sell the vases. After he was turned away, he returned the next day with a five-gallon bucket filled with cut-up metal vases. The manager of the facility turned him away.

"They did not accept the vases, and that's when they started breaking them and trying to sell them for parts," Clute police Chief James Fitch explained.

Three men have been charged with felony theft, and police are still searching for one more suspect.

"We feel very proud that it worked out the way that it did, and the people were finally caught because that's just disgusting," the woman said. "For the people who just don't have any sort of regard to the families that already lost their loved ones. They're already grieving, they're already hurting, and now they have to worry about paying for another vase."

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