The husband and wife who were charged with stealing items from Monroe Cemetery in Ludlow last October were sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Jennifer and Brett Rank, both 19, appeared in Livingston County Associate Circuit Court Wednesday afternoon with Judge James P. Valbracht presiding.
The Ranks were charged with stealing after they had allegedly taken a large quantity of items from gravestones at Monroe Cemetery and used the items to decorate their house. Many of the items taken came from the grave of Devon Louise Brown, an 11-year-old Ludlow girl who died in 2003.
Devon’s mother, Lorie Brown, was present in the courtroom Wednesday. She said that there had been several concrete figurines, solar lights, flowers, memory plaques and multiple small figurines taken from her daughter’s grave.
After the items were discovered missing, a sign was soon posted announcing that a reward was being offered for the arrest and conviction of whoever was involved in the theft.
Livingston County Sheriff reports state that the Ranks had said that when they saw the reward sign at the Ludlow restaurant they went home and Brett Rank broke the figurines. The broken pieces were then placed in a seed bag and flowers in a trash bag. The report states that Brett Rank said that he then took the items to three different locations south of Ludlow for disposal.
Both Jennifer and Brett Rank pleaded guilty to the crime and were assessed 90 days in jail. The court suspended the execution of their sentences and placed them on probation for two years. They were also assessed 96 hours shock detention.
Lorie Brown said that some of the things taken from her daughter’s grave site and later destroyed included personal messages that were written by her daughter’s friends. Those things, she said, are irreplaceable.
“I can’t go out and write ‘best friends forever’ on them,” she said. “There is absolutely no way that what they (the Ranks) took form her can be replaced.”
