Cemetery Manager Arrested After Graves Moved, Bones Tosses Into Woods

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) - A cemetery manager is under arrest after police say she disturbed dozens of graves under her care and tossed human remains aside to make room.

Dale LaPrade,the cemetery operator, was arrested Thursday on charges of interference with a cemetery or burial ground, a class C felony. She is due in court on Dec. 18.

The Bridgeport Police Department Detective Bureau launched an investigation in September after allegations were made of criminal conduct occurring at Park City Cemetery, specifically in regards to the disturbance of gravesites.

Officials say about 130 graves were disturbed at a Connecticut cemetery that includes the remains of Civil War veterans to make way for new graves over the past seven years.

Police and other officials in Bridgeport held a news conference Thursday.

Complaints from relatives of those buried at the cemetery led police to search the property in September. Officials say gravestones and human remains were moved to make way for the newly dead, while human bones, casket pieces and broken gravestones were found in the woods.

Detectives served two search warrants on the premises and seized financial documents and grave site maps. Detectives worked with a state anthropologist and utilized ground penetrating radar to confirm that grave sites had been disturbed.