CITRUS HEIGHTS-
Robert Tantillo told FOX40 vandals have continually defaced his son’s crypt since his death last June.
“Just please leave the dead alone,” Tantillo said.
Trevor Tantillo’s crypt is at Sierra Hills Cemetery in Citrus Heights, which is run by East Lawn Mortuaries.
“They’ve been popping stuff off the those graves and leaving beer cans and just doing disrespectful stuff,” Tantillo said.
According to Tantillo, his family has paid to replace the metal flower and angel decorations, but they keep getting stolen.
He believes it’s a group who knew his son, Trevor who passed away in June, with the Sacramento County Coroner ruling his cause of death as a self inflicted gunshot wound.
Tantillo’s frustrations have extended to the staff at the cemetery.
After paying over $20,000 for the crypt, he feels there’s a lack of security at the cemetery overnight.
“I mean I understand it’s a big place but hire somebody at night,” Tantillo said.
But East Lawn spokesperson Lisa West told FOX40 the gates on all of their properties are locked after hours and, although they’re not everywhere all the time, her staff does work through the night.
“We are working 24 hours a day, so we have people that drive in, drive out, they check on these things pretty regularly,” West said, adding it’s not just her employees checking. “We do have law enforcement that comes there quite often and drives through the cemetery. It’s one of their regular patrols.”
Tantillo wanted to place a hidden camera in a nearby tree to try and discover who’s behind the vandalism, but he says the cemetery won’t allow it.
“If you’re not going to help me, why did I come here? (Why did) my family spent that much money?” Tantillo asked.
But West said it’s a question of respecting other people’s privacy.
“There’s people that are there grieving and mourning and we can’t just have arbitrarily anybody putting up a camera,” West told FOX40.
