MEADVILLE, Pa. -- A Crawford County man allegedly sold roughly 100 brass markers stolen from veterans' graves for scrap.

Forty-five-year-old Raymond Ebbert, of Meadville, faces charges of receiving stolen property and desecrating or selling venerated objects.

Police say Mr. Ebbert sold the items for $730 -- or $1.25 per pound -- in November. A worker at the scrap yard contacted police once he determined the objects were grave markers that had been cut in pieces. Some of the markers have been reassembled and returned to a cemetery.

Crawford County officials say they pay about $50 each to place the markers on graves.

First Published: January 11, 2010, 2:45 p.m.