Two men arrested for stealing remains of military veterans and using them in “religious practices”

Two men have been arrested after allegedly steal remains of military veterans s from a cemetery in Florida which they later used for “religious practices” , reported the authorities.

On December 6, 2020, it was discovered that Four graves at Edgewood Cemetery in Mount Dora, Florida, in Lake County had been opened and damaged. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, a crowbar had been used to remove the covers from the graves.

Investigators collected items from around them, including cigarette butts , and they sent those items to be analyzed for DNA testing , which according to the authorities coincided with one of those arrested, Brian Montalvo Tolentino, 43, from Davenport, Florida.

“The detectives de Lake met and interviewed Tolentino, who confessed to having gone to the cemetery with another individual, Juan Burgos-López , of 39 years, and having committed the crimes, ”said the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in a statement, ABC News reports.

On January 7, after contacting the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, they obtained a search warrant for the suspects.

“Tolentino affirmed that López used a lever to open the vaults and then took out the heads of the deceased . They removed four heads from the four graves and then returned to López’s residence. As he revealed, the heads were taken for religious practices. ”

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the suspects confessed to detectives that they were using the human remains for their practice religious called Palo Mayombe , a religion that developed during the era of slavery in Cuba among enslaved Africans and their descendants , according to Lonely Planet – and that they robbed graves of veterans because they needed remains of those who had “done something heroic.”

Polk County authorities later obtained a search warrant for Lopez’s residence, “in an effort to locate and recover any of the human remains. ”

“ During the search, the detectives located a total of six skulls, one hand, an arm and many other large bones within what It appeared to be some kind of religious shrine , ”the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Tolentino and Burgos-Lopez were booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with four counts of tampering the contents of a grave and four counts of abuse of a dead human body.

They are currently being held on bail from $ 40, 000 Dollars.