Metal thieves strip urns, including one holding cremains

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UNION CITY, Calif. -- Metal bandits have been pillaging pipes from San Francisco Bay Area homes, eviscerating statues at public plazas and plundering fixtures from private businesses all for the quick cash of recycling metal scrap. Now, Union City police believe, they've even taken someone's remains. Thieves strolled into the mausoleum at the Chapel of the Chimes Cemetery on Sunday and pilfered seven bronze urns -- including one that contained cremated remains.The urns, which weighed from 20 to 40 pounds each, were designed to look like books and were enclosed behind a glass panel. Urns with remains were mixed with those that had been "pre-bought," in preparation of death, according to police Lt. Jim Bizieff. The thieves took all of the urns that didn't have any etching on them, likely not realizing that one contained remains. The family, it turns out, had decided not to have the urn etched with any details about the person who had died. Bizieff said the department has talked to local recyclers, which say they will not accept the urns. But that might not be enough. "This doesn't mean the bad guys won't chop it up," Bizieff said. Bizieff said the department, like departments around the region, have been increasingly struggling with metal theft. There's even an informal network among departments that discusses incidents such as this. The thefts have sometimes been surprising. About six months ago, the Union City Fire Department responded to a water alarm at a local business only to discover that it wasn't a fire that set off the sprinkler system. Thieves had stolen valves, setting the water loose.This wasn't the first cemetery to be hit, Bizieff said. But it might be the first set of remains to be stolen."It's hitting everybody," he said. "But when you start taking people's ashes, that's kind of morbid."(E-mail Matthai Kuruvila at mkuruvila(at)sfchronicle.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)