Kevin Maynard, 59, wants to plead guilty and I can understand why. He is charged with a crime that few jurors would not recoil at. He is a worker at the Rhode Island Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery and is accused of stealing more than 150 granite gravestones to pave the floor of his garage and shed.
Maynard is charged with felony theft of government property — a charge that does not seem to capture the enormity of his crime in dishonoring these veterans and possibly traumatizing family members disturbed by the thought of their loved one’s marker being used as flooring in a garage. However, this offense can come with a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release for three years.
Investigators say that they found the markers serving as flooring in makeshift garages and a shed at Maynard’s Charlestown, Rhode Island home. They also found a box of stolen flags.
Maynard may have justified the act as merely reusing such stones. Cracked or deteriorated stones are also replaced for free, and the damaged ones are stacked in an area at the cemetery until they can be hauled away to be destroyed. However, these grave markers remain government property. That creates an interesting couple of countervailing elements. On one hand, even the use of damaged tombstones for flooring dishonors the memory of these veterans. On the other hand, these stones would have been disposed of by the government. The mix of aggravating and mitigating factors will have to be balanced by the court at sentencing.
His lawyer has indicated that he will change his plea to guilty as soon as he goes before a federal judge.
Source: WTOP
Perhaps the dear fellow didn’t know that he couldn’t take the old, worn, and cracked tombstones. So what’s the government going to do with them, break them up and throw them in a dump site?
Give him 30 days, a small fine, and send him on his way.
Tell Pres Obama, and he’ll be released soon…or is that only for drug criminals?
bam, I said early on it was gut check time for someone[7/16/15 @ 9:34a]. Lotsa belly, but no guts.
Again, as expected, a complete and utter diversion from the topic at hand and a failure to properly address the issue. Instead, let’s see what we have? People incensed that they, themselves, have been called on the carpet for labeling any objection to Maynard’s conduct as being some sort of faux outrage. Funny, I suppose, if it weren’t so sad. Label the feelings of others, no matter how justified, as faux outrage, and then, become offended when one is caught doing so and the behavior is highlighted. Claim to be a vet and the mother of a person in the service, yet, when others attempt to voice their concerns over the mistreatment of dead vets and their grave markers, quickly label those individuals as having faux outrage. Some strange disconnect. Criticize others–in a venue designed to post various news stories, where comments are encouraged–and portray the opinions of others as false outrage. Very normal.