South Jersey cemetery desecrated when vehicle drives over gravestones

Lifelong Hammonton resident Larry Longo is disgusted by what he saw in the town’s 165-year-old cemetery, where the earliest settlers of the town are buried and so many of Larry’s family.

"Very disrespectful. They know what they’re doing. It’s not something they like they lost control. You can see tracks in the snow. It was a direct line," resident Longo expressed his anger. "It’s terrible, just terrible."

What we know:

Someone drove into the cemetery and directly over the gravestones of a couple buried side-by-side. Then, visible in the snow, it can be seen the driver swerved around headstones.

The caretaker of the Oak Grove cemetery says it happened sometime after the 5 p.m. closing time Tuesday.

Sadly, this was the second time in recent memory someone desecrated the historic holy ground with a vehicle, as seen in photos of that damage.

What they're saying:

Longo remarked, "I got my parents here. My grandparents and my sister and brother–in-law they’re buried in that side. My grandfather is here."

"You see something like this, it’s completely uncharacteristic of the town, people that live in the town. It’s sad," resident Cory Novak said.

"I can’t understand why someone would decide to cut off the road and run over gravestones like that. It’s disrespectful," Caretaker Joe Barenato said. He continued, "We had somebody drive off the road, up on our hill, over there, an upright monument knocking it clear off its base. We have clearly paved roads, and we have clearly marked exits and entrances for a reason, so that people don't drive over graves."

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Longo said, "The police patrol this too. They come through here, because they try to keep people out of here after hours."

"These are people's relatives, this is lineage. You don’t do that. It's disrespectful," Novak added.

"This second now, does this make you want to put up cameras since everybody seems to be doing that in this modern day and age?" asked FOX 29’s Steve Keeley.

"We have been considering it, yes," Barenato replied.

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