Man confesses to stealing vases from headstones in Rosenberg, police say

ROSENBERG, Texas (KTRK) -- A registered sex offender from Brookshire confessed to stealing from gravesites to resell precious metal from vases that are normally attached to headstones, Rosenberg police said.

The video above is from a previous report showing a car destroying gravesites at Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home.

On Thursday, Rolando Trevino, 63, was arrested for 17 counts of theft from a grave, displaying a fictitious license plate, and driving while license invalid.

Trevino was using a fictitious license plate on the vehicle that police spotted on surveillance footage at 3900 B.F. Terry Blvd.

Investigators reviewed surveillance footage over a period of time and ultimately witnessed Trevino on the cemetery grounds after stealing more bronze vases, police say.

Officers found Trevino leaving the Davis-Greenlawn Cemetery and recovered 17 freshly stolen bronze vases.

Trevino confessed to stealing the bronze vases to sell them as precious metal items and doing this multiple times over the past few weeks.

"Precious metal theft is on the rise nationally and we are not immune from these trends. We normally see this in the catalytic convertor thefts, but Rolando Trevino has shown us a new low by stealing from the deceased. It is heartbreaking to read police reports where family members arrive to visit their loved one's grave sites only to find they have been a victim of theft. I commend our SET team for putting a stop to this and for the many hours of labor they put into this investigation," Rosenberg Police Chief Jonathan White said.

Trevino is now sitting in the Fort Bend County jail for the alleged offenses.