Veterans’ Cemetery Worker Ordered to Serve Veterans, Probation for Stealing Gravestones

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Kevin Maynard, 59, of Charlestown, R.I., a former employee at the Rhode Island Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery in Exeter, was ordered today to perform 200 hours of community service in the service of veterans as part of his sentence of 12 months’ probation for stealing granite gravestones and other items from the Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha; Jeffrey Hughes, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General (VA OIG), Northeast Field Office; and Colonel Steven G. O’Donnell, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.

The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith. Maynard pleaded guilty on July 28, 2015, to theft of government property.

According to court documents, over a lengthy period of time, Maynard removed worn or broken grave markers from the cemetery and brought them to his Charlestown residence. On April 23, 2015, a VA-OIG agent and a Rhode Island State Police detective accompanied Maynard to his home where investigators discovered at least 150 veterans’ grave markers being used as flooring for a shed and two make-shift garages. Investigators also located additional markers on the property and a box of American flags belonging to the Veterans’ Cemetery.

According to Government regulations, all Government-furnished headstones/markers/ medallions remain the property of the United States Government in perpetuity and that the “destruction, mutilation, defacement, injury, or removal of any monument, gravestone, or other structure within the limits of any national cemetery is prohibited.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams.

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