Two employees of a Carroll County cemetery are accused of stealing dozens of memorials and selling them for profit.
Thomas McAdams and Anna Millwood allegedly stole more than 72 bronze memorials from a storage room at the Meadowbrook Memory Gardens in Villa Rica and sold them to a recycling center, according to authorities. They were arrested last week.
Credit: Meadowbrook Memory Gardens
Credit: Meadowbrook Memory Gardens
Carroll County sheriff’s deputies were asked to look into the missing memorials Nov. 22. The 72 memorials were valued at $4,500 each, bringing the total value of the items stolen to more than $300,000, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
None of the markers were taken from graves, according to investigators. Some markers did contain names and would have been placed when graves were ready, while others were blank or were markers that had been replaced due to damage, police said.
“McAdams and Millwood produced fraudulent paperwork to the recycling center that they had permission to have the markers melted and would take to two to three markers at a time as not to seem too suspicious,” the sheriff’s office said.
A search warrant executed at Millwood and McAdams’ shared home in Haralson County resulted in the seizure of “additional stolen items and drugs,” according to authorities.
Both are facing a single charge of felony theft by taking. They were booked into the Carroll County Jail on Nov. 26 and later released on bond.
A judge set McAdams’ bond at $5,000, while Millwood’s bond was set at $6,500.
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