Arrest warrants issued for 2 men in theft of hundreds of vases from gravestones in Chicago suburbs

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Arrest warrants have been issued for two men wanted for stealing approximately 200 decorative vases from gravestones at a northwest suburban cemetery last year.

McHenry County Sheriff's police said the vases were stolen from the McHenry County Memorial Park Cemetery in September 2024. Each vase was worth between $200 and $900.

Following a monthslong investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff's Office, Lake County Sheriff's Office, and McHenry County State's Attorney's Office, arrest warrants have been issued for 30-year-old Fermin Tonche-Gallardo and 41-year-old Marcos Mendez, both of Waukegan.

Tonche-Gallardo and Mendez both face charges of theft and damage to a gravestone.

Tonche-Gallardo was previously arrested for stealing gravestones from a cemetery in unincorporated Libertyville in August 2024. An arrest warrant also was issued for Mendez in that case in October, but it was not immediately clear if he was ever taken into custody.

Lake County prosecutors said Tonche-Gallardo and Mendez stole brass or bronze vases valued between $500 to $800 each from the headstones of the cemetery in unincorporated Libertyville in August. Tonche-Gallardo and Mendez later sold them to scrapyards for a fraction of their value.

In that case, both men were charged with one felony count of theft and five felony counts of causing damage to a gravestone.

After his October arrest, Tonche-Gallardo was released from custody.