A Texas family used an Apple AirTag to help police locate $62,000 worth of vases stolen from gravesites.
More than 100 bronze vases were taken from graves in a cemetery in Brazoria County, about 45 minutes south of Houston, over the past two months, according to Click2Houston.
The thieves, who apparently intended to sell the vases as scrap metal, were nabbed by an enterprising family who used an Apple AirTag to catch them.
One such vase was stolen from the grave of Tony Velazquez’s uncle at Restwood Memorial Park in Clute — so when the family replace it, they attached the Apple device to it and gave local police the information needed to track it, according to the report.
“They gave us the login information and allowed us to then track it. We tracked it to a residence right outside of the town of Brazoria,” Clute Police Chief James Fitch told the outlet.
The clever method led to the arrest of three of men, who were charged with third-degree felony theft.
“They had actually tried to take the entire vases to a scrap yard, they turned them down luckily,” Fitch noted.
A fourth suspect is being sought, police said.
Velazquez said his family lost $1,200 in the ordeal and is asking for the cemetery to put security measures in place.
“Overnight security, maybe. Maybe some light posts around here,” he told the outlet.
Restwood Funeral Home said the problem is widespread and difficult to monitor.
“Unfortunately, the theft of bronze vases is an issue at cemeteries across North America,” the funeral home said in a statement. “It saddens us that thieves are preying on cemeteries and gravesites to commit these crimes. However, cemeteries, by their nature, are open to the public.”