War memorial stolen from Kelowna cemetery

Four bronze memorial plaques, one of which was a war memorial, were stolen from a Kelowna cemetery on Thursday night.

The plaques were collectively worth thousands of dollars and each one carried thenames of over 60 people.

"Not only does this crime impact countless families and loved ones of those who were memorialized on the specialized plaques. We are told one of those plaques was a war memorial, which honoured the names of dozens of Canadian veterans," KelownaRCMPCpl. Jesse O'Donagheysaid in a statement.

Thieves took four offive memorial plaques affixed to stone walls atLakeview Memorial Gardens situated along Dry Valley Road in Kelowna.

Due to the size of the one metretall plaques, police say thieves would haverequired a vehicle to remove them from the cemetery grounds. They would have also needed an implement to pry the bolted bronze from the stone.

Police believe the plaques were taken at some point overnight between5 p.m. on Wednesday July 17and 7 a.m. on Thursday July 18.

RCMP are asking any members of the public with information to contactConst. Marshall Slarks of the Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300 or Crime Stoppers atwww.crimestoppers.net.

The Central Okanagan Mounties have also released a statementasking those responsible for the theft to hand inthe stolen bronze,

"Do the proper thing. Turn over the memorial plaques to your nearest police detachment, community policing office or return them.