A woman told police the vandalism of 34 headstones in a North Versailles cemetery began when her 5-year-old daughter accidentally pushed one over and toppling them became a game.

		Previous coverage North Versailles cemetery workers fix damage to headstones (7/26/05)

North Versailles police on Sunday charged Lisa J. Ly, 36, of Duquesne, with desecration of venerated objects, corruption of a minor, theft and other charges in connection with the July 24 incident at Grandview Cemetery. Ly was in the Allegheny County Jail yesterday on $3,000 bail.

Assistant Police Chief Steve Latsko said Ly was arrested around 6:30 p.m. Sunday when a visitor in the adjacent St. Joseph Cemetery noticed Ly, her daughter and husband moving from grave to grave while apparently removing items.

The visitor called police, who stopped the family as it drove away from Grandview. In the car's trunk, police said, they found a small cache of figurines, ribbons, vases and other decorative items. More items -- up to 120, with an aggregate value of $2,000 or more -- were later found in Ly's home.

Latsko said during questioning, Ly admitted to upending the headstones in July.

"She said it was an accident at first," Latsko said. Ly claimed that her daughter knocked over the first stone, Latsko said, "then she said they started playing and pushing over more stones."

The family often walked through local cemeteries picking up small statues, decorative vases and other items from graves, he said. "[Ly] said she would take them for her daughter because she liked the little figurines."

Although police believe he accompanied Ly and the child to the cemetery when the vandalism occurred, the husband has not been charged. Because he could not speak English, police have been unable to ascertain his involvement.

"She's taking all the blame on herself right now," Latsko said of Ly.

Loved ones whose relatives are buried in Grandview are invited to help identify the stolen items, he said.

North Versailles police were contacting police departments in West Mifflin, North Braddock, Braddock and North Huntingdon to determine whether similar thefts and/or vandalism had occurred there.

Jay Taylor, Grandview manager, said he expects damage to the graves to be covered by plot owners' home insurance.

Volunteers will have to repair grave sites whose families are deceased.

Either way, it could cost up to $10,000 to repair the damage, he said.

In the initial incident, vandals struck between midnight July 23 and 6 a.m. July 24. A plot owner visiting a grave in the area noticed the disarray at 8 a.m. and called cemetery authorities.

Taylor said he was grateful that no stones were shattered.

"We were lucky in that regard," he said. "So far, we have righted most of the stones on to their bases. We're doing a little at a time. On average [for labor and materials] the cost was about $200 to $300 a stone."

Two of the toppled markers were more than 150 years old, he said.

Taylor said cemetery workers had help from four volunteers from St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Monroeville. The vandalism centered on the Serbian section of the nonprofit, nonsectarian burial place.