Inset: Katherine Taylor. Screenshot: Taylor allegedly stealing items off graves at a cemetery in Palatka, Florida (Putnam County Sheriff’s Office).
Cops in Florida have arrested a woman after she allegedly stole mementos from graves so she could use them as lawn art at her home.
Katherine Taylor, 61, stands accused of two counts of criminal mischief, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
Family members with their parents buried side by side at Etoniah Cemetery in Palatka, some 35 miles southwest of St. Augustine, noticed someone was stealing items they left on grave sites.
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After reporting some of the miscellaneous items missing to cops in April, the family members installed a camera in hopes of catching the thief in action.
Apparently that’s exactly what happened.
The video showed a woman later identified as Taylor walking around the grave site filled with keepsakes on Monday. She appears to have grabbed one wind chime and tried to swipe another but couldn’t shake it loose.
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Detectives received anonymous tips identifying the suspect as Taylor. Cops went to confront her at her home in Interlachen, but they say they didn’t have to look very far for the stolen items. They were featured prominently in her yard, cops say. Aside from the wind chime, they also found a bird feeder previously stolen from the grave site, among other items, a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime said.
Taylor told cops this is not the first time she was caught stealing from a cemetery. The Palatka Police Department arrested her in 2020 for stealing from the East Oak Hill Cemetery after she took an item from a grave. She was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to six months probation, records show.
The suspect, whom police dubbed a “habitual cemetery thief, was arrested for her latest theft and taken to the Putnam County Jail where she has since posted a $5,000 bond. She did not have an attorney listed.
