Officers found a man and a woman in the cemetery. Schmidt said that officers were “very familiar with” the man, though both people were known to police.
He said that the man repeatedly refused to provide identification, and after being told to put his hands behind his back the man tried to run before being caught by police.
The sergeant said there was a large hole dug in one of the grave sites, though it is unclear whether anything had been removed.
Schmidt said that the man is homeless and police believed that he was possibly trying to live in the cemetery.
The man was taken to the Montgomery County Jail on initial charges of resisting arrest, obstructing official business, trespassing, and either vandalism or desecration of a grave, which is a felony, Schmidt said.
The woman was charged with trespassing and released, he said. She remained on scene to help with cleaning up afterward.
David Procuniar, 78, who cared for the cemetery and whose ancestors are among those buried inside, said that he was alerted to the possible desecration of the graves by people who live nearby, who said that there were shirts hanging over some of the stones and someone had been digging in the graves.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
The cemetery was first created in 1823 by members of the Dille family, Procuniar said. He added that his family also lived in the area and had around 14 total members buried in the cemetery. He said that his family purchased land nearby in 1832.
The grave that had been partially dug up belonged to his great grandfather, who was the last person buried in the cemetery in 1880, he said.
Both Schmidt and Procuniar said that this was a rare occurrence.
Schmidt said that this is the first time in 22 years that he has ever run into a case like this.
Procuniar said that though they never advertised or put up signs to show that there was a cemetery there, he had occasionally found teenagers that he ran off. He said he had never had something like this happen.
He said the small cemetery was cared for by Mad River Township for a long time, but after Riverside became a city the task fell to him and Charles Dille. Unfortunately, he said that the Dille family had stopped coming years ago, and he had to stop cutting the grass in 2021 when his health made it difficult for him to climb the hill.
In addition to his family and the Dille family, Procuniar said that there were a small number of other families buried in the cemetery, and included veterans of both the Revolutionary War and Civil War.
One gravestone, which Procuniar said belonged to a Revolutionary War soldier, had been in place for so long a tree trunk had partially covered the stone.
“I just feel bad,” he said. “I mean, these are my ancestors. They were buried here, they lived right around the corner.”
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