Flowers stolen off graves for Valentine's Day

Generally, it cost about $50 to grab a nice bouquet of flowers for your Valentine.  It seems some people would rather take a dark short-cut that could end up costing them thousands of dollars and years in prison, by stealing flowers from cemeteries.

Don Price, the sexton at Greenwood Cemetery in Downtown Orlando said the holiday of love is their worst day for thefts from graves.

"It happens every year,” said Price. “Every year beautiful roses will be sitting here then I'll get a call or complaint a day later asking what happened to their flowers or their roses."

Price released a Tweet on Twitter Tuesday urging guys to take their flower shopping elsewhere:

"Men: Cemetery flowers do not make good Valentine's gifts for your significant other. Although they are beautiful, they come with some bad karma mojo. Any flowers in the dumpster are free range...you dive for them, you keep them."
 
While he kept the subject light on social media, Price said the problem is quite a serious one. 

The cemetery monitors their grounds with cameras and does close at sundown, but being as large as they are and unable to catch every thief in the act, he said it’s tough.

However, if someone is caught stealing flowers from a grave, believe it or not, it’s a felony!

The City of Orlando has a sign posted near the cemetery office warning that such theft is punishable by up to $5000 and 5 years in prison. Price said they will press charges if it comes up.

Oddly enough, the second worst day for theft at Greenwood is Thanksgiving.