Suffolk County police Thursday arrested three people allegedly responsible for stealing multiple bronze vases from Pinelawn Cemetery over the course of four months, police said.
The alleged cemetery burglars were nabbed in Massapequa following a brief chase that began at the Farmingdale cemetery around noon, police said.
Two of the suspects allegedly fled in a white 2010 Volkswagen Beetle and tried to evade responding officers by driving through a locked metal gate, police said.
An investigation following their arrest revealed that the two suspects, and a woman, had previously stolen other bronze vases from the cemetery on Oct. 1 and Oct. 16, 2013 and again on Feb. 5, police said.
Detectives charged 27-year-old Nicholas Giambalvo, 24-year-old Max Schneider, both of Dix Hills, and the owner of the Beetle, 27-year-old North Babylon resident Elizabeth Dono, with grand larceny.
The combined value of the vases is approximately $53,000, police said.
Giambalvo and Dono were also charged with burglary for allegedly stealing copper piping from a vacant North Babylon home in December.
Giambalvo was also accused of unlawfully fleeing an officer, criminal mischief, reckless driving and resisting arrest.
Schneider also faces a resisting arrest charge.
All three are scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Friday.
Detectives ask anyone who may have witnessed the alleged vase thefts or may have additional information to call the First Squad at 631-854-8152 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
