2 Polk County men arrested for stealing skulls, other remains of 3 veterans, and a former adult caretaker from Florida cemetery
Two Polk County men have been arrested for stealing the remains of three veterans and former adult care-taker from a Florida cemetery, officials say.
Posted at 8:56 AM, Jan 08, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-08 18:10:09-05
POLK COUNTY, Fla- â Two Polk County men have been arrested for stealing the remains of three veterans and former adult care-taker from a Florida cemetery, officials say.
According to Lake County Sheriff s Office, it happened on Dec. 6, 2020, at Edgewood Cemetery.
âLook at this mess that they left at people s grave sites. This is despicable, said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
Two men stole skulls of veterans from Florida cemetery for ancient rituals, deputies say
The men robbed the graves of an African American cemetery to practice ancient religious rituals, authorities say. They also left behind DNA evidence.
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Two Polk County men are accused of robbing four graves and stealing skulls from Edgewood Cemetery, an African American cemetery in Mount Dora. They used the stolen remains to practice Palo Mayombe, an ancient religion, authorities said, and used them to build a shrine found in a shed in Lake Wales. [ Polk County Sheriff s Office ]
Updated Jan. 9
It was the spirits who led the two men to Edgewood Cemetery in Mount Dora, they told investigators, and then right to the graves of four African Americans. Three were military veterans, and the fourth spent her life taking care of people.
TAVARES – Authorities have arrested and charged two men with breaking into gravesites and stealing the heads of four corpses at Greenwood Cemetery in Mount Dora for ritualistic ceremonies on Dec. 6.
It was the modern science of DNA – not witchcraft – that led to a confession and the grisly discovery of remains in one of the men’s homes.
Investigators say it was genetic evidence on a cigar that led to the arrest of Brian Montalvo Tolentino, 43, of Davenport. Practitioners of Santeria black magic often leave offerings of cigars, coins, fruit, candy and slain chickens.
Tolentino’s genetic information was in the state’s DNA crime data base, but it is not clear why.
Updated: 5:43 PM EST Jan 7, 2021 Two men accused of stealing remains from multiple gravesites in Lake County have been arrested after detectives said DNA evidence helped them crack the case. Lake County deputies said they were called to the Edgewood Cemetery on Britt Road in Mount Dora on Dec. 6 after somebody reported vandalism to some of the graves. Investigators found some cigars at the scene and sent them off to be tested for DNA. The test results came back as a match to 43-year-old Brian Montalvo Tolentino, who lives in Davenport.Lake County investigators said they met with and interviewed Tolentino, during which he confessed to going to the cemetery with 39-year-old Juan Burgos Lopez, of Lake Wales. Tolentino told investigators that Lopez used a crowbar to open the vaults and then removed the heads of the deceased, deputies said. Tolentino told investigators they removed four heads from the four graves and then returned to Lopez s home. Deputies said Tolentino said t
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