SCSO: multiple agencies help recover stolen gravesite vases, one arrested

The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office said its investigators, with help from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, Kingsport Police Department and Weber City Police Department, have recovered more than 100 vases that were stolen from graves across Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. The agencies said at a Friday morning press conference that they collaboratively recovered 131 bronze vases from Scott County, Virginia and six from Sullivan County on Thursday. The vases were found at a home and a recycling center thanks to an anonymous tip. Robert Clark of Scott County was arrested at the unnamed recycling center in connection with the thefts. The vases recovered were only a third of what was stolen and reportedly valued around $75,000. Police say the graveyards affected that they know of include East Lawn Cemetery and Oak Hill Cemetery in Sullivan County and Holston View Cemetery in Scott County. Families who are victims of the thefts are asked to reach out to the SCSO to possibly identify and reunite the stolen vases with their gravesites.