By Gordon Byrd
Jan 8, 2021
MOUNT DORA Two Polk County men, a former police officer and a convicted felon, are facing charges after Lake County deputies say they desecrated five graves in a cemetery, four of which contained the remains of military veterans.
Lake County detectives say the desecration occurred at the Edgewood Cemetery, a historically African-American cemetery, December 6th. Crime scene investigators collected various items left at the gravesites, including cigars, and collected DNA. This led them to Brian Tolentino, 43, of Davenport. He pointed them to Juan Lopez of Lake Wales. They say Lopez told them the men opened the graves and removed the skulls of five people in a religious ritual.