GWINNER – A man is facing charges after allegedly stealing a bell from a cemetery in Sargent County.
According to documents obtained by Flag Family News, Sheriff Travis Paeper received a call on Monday in regard to a theft from White Stone Hill Cemetery. Court documents state someone had stolen the historic bell that resided at the cemetery, donated by the Luther League of Women of the White Stone Hill Congregation in the early 1900s.
Through the course of an investigation, it was determined that the bell was last seen in place on September 1 and was noticed missing five days later.
The investigation led authorities to a recycling business in West Fargo, and it was learned that the suspect, Paul Vincent, sold 450 pounds of yellow brass as scrap.
Law enforcement located Vincent in Gwinner on Tuesday, where he was detained. He denied stealing the bell but said he, along with another person, ‘did transport pieces of the bell’ to the business in West Fargo ‘where he sold it for scrap,’ court documents said.
Vincent faces a Class B felony charge of theft of property. Bond has been set in the amount of $2,000 cash with conditions.
The bell, made of yellow brass and inscribed with the manufacturer’s name and other words, weighed more than 700 pounds and was secured to a stand with a strap and bolted down. The replacement cost of the bell, according to court documents, is between $40,000 and $45,000.
