UPDATE: Vases Stolen from Walton County Cemetery Personal for Sheriff

UPDATE: The Walton Tribune is reporting that an arrest has been made in this case. Shahid Rahim, 34, of 1949 Highway 11, Monroe, was reportedly arrested at 4 p.m. on Monday, July 9, and charged with 24 counts of theft by taking. DeKalb Police reportedly assisted in the arrest. Rahim's address is close to West Lawn Cemetery. He was reportedly arrested when he tried to sell the urns to a recycling dealer in Dekalb County.

The Walton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the theft of vases from West Lawn Cemetery in Walton County. The cemetery, which is located just north of the city of Monroe, had 35 vases stolen recently. The theft was discovered on July 1.

“I don’t know why these were stolen – as of July 1 metal recyclers can’t purchase these items,” said Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman.

The Cemetery theft has been reported widely in the media and Chapman said he had been getting a lot of calls on the case - one from his wife when she found out that one of the missing vases had been on the grave occupied by her father. He said he is now also getting pressure from is wife to get the case solved.

“The metal recyclers are not supposed to purchase any of these items from anybody, but people still think stealing copper will work,” Chapman said. “And unfortunately there are some questionable metal recyclers. We did have one that we shut down – I think he moved to Barrow County.”

The WCSO was also setting up extra patrols, especially at night, in an effort to prevent thieves from taking another crack at vases in the cemetery. The hope is also that the new legislation that went into effect on July 1 will become more of a deterrent. Provisions in the new law include:

• A prohibition on cash payments from recyclers to sellers of scrap metal. Sellers also must wait three days before cashing a check or voucher issued to a seller as payment. 
• Scrap metal recyclers must register with their county sheriff’s office and receive a permit to do business. Failure to do business without a permit will be illegal. 
• Metals recyclers will also be required to enter all transactions into a new database maintained by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Recyclers will be required to submit photographs of the property they buy, the checks or vouchers they issue as payment, a signed and sworn affidavit from a seller regarding ownership of material recycled, and an image of the seller’s face. 
• It is now illegal for a recyclers to buy air conditioner coils or copper wire unless the seller is a licensed contractor. Also, copper wire that has been heated, charred or burned (often done to conceal identify of owner) cannot be purchased by recyclers.
• The purchase of burial objects will be illegal, unless sold by a licensed funeral director or cemetery. (There have been cases of metal plaques and urns taken stolen cemeteries and sold). 
• Recyclers will only be allowed to operate between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., ensuring transactions are held during daylight hours most of the year.