A Frackville woman is facing felony charges after police say she had two men dig up her boyfriend's urn from a West Mahanoy Township cemetery.
According to court documents, Nicole Chester, 34, of Frackville, is facing a felony charge of institutional vandalism, and misdemeanor charges of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, desecration, theft, or sale of venerated objects and other charges.
According to the affidavit of probable cause by West Mahanoy Township Police Marvin Livergood and Officer John Kaczmarczyk, on June 12, 2021, their department received a report of an incident for a possible stolen urn from Odd Fellows Cemetery on Morea Road near Frackville.
Chief Livergood contacted the family member who reported the theft, who stated that the urn of Kevin Mentusky was dug up right after it was buried. The family member said that it was believed that Chester, Mentusky's girlfriend, stole the urn.
Mentusky, who has a daughter, was said to be his next of kin, not Chester.
An investigation by police found that Chester allegedly hired two men to help her dig up the urn.
Chester was also on parole during the investigation. Officer spoke with the parole officer who said that an urn with Mentusky's name on it was at Chester's home.
West Mahanoy Township police visited Chester's home on Line Street in Frackville and spoke with her.
With consent, Chief Livergood was able to retrieve the urn and take it to Sullivan's Funeral Home in Frackville, where Mentusky's arrangements were handled.
The funeral home confirmed, by its identification tag, that the urn and remains were that of Mentusky's.
As a result of the investigation, on January 26th, 2022, Chester was taken into custody and charged with the above charges. She was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Edward Tarantelli who set bail at $10,000(10%).
She posted bail later that day.
Chester will return to Judge Tarantelli's office on March 9th, 2022 for a preliminary hearing.
RETRACTION: The original posting of this story had Chester's age list as 23, that was incorrect.
RETRACTION 2: The original posting showed Odd Fellow Cemetery in Shenandoah Heights, the incident occurred at Odd Fellows Cemetery on Morea Road near Frackville.