PITTSFIELD – Police in Pittsfield have arrested two men in connection with the theft of solid brass veteran markers from St. Josephs Cemetery.

According to police Lyle Parker and Matthew Demastrie, both 26, of Pittsfield, were attempting to sell some of these markers for scrap value, luckily the owner of the junkyard called the police.

Over the years the veteran’s agency has placed thousands of markers on the graves of veterans, some of which date back to the Civil War. There is no way to tell how many were stolen, 220 have been recovered.

The suspects have been charged with receiving stolen property. The cemetery is asking family members to check gravesites and let them know if their loved ones marker has been disturbed.

The cemetery is located at 222 Peck's Road in Pittsfield, MA 413-499-1317.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) - A Chicopee man told police that he set fire to several Berkshire County buildings because he considered them eyesores.
    
An investigator for the state Fire Marshal's office said in court Tuesday that he interviewed 54-year-old Stuart Zebrowski after his arrest.
    
Zebrowski is accused of setting four empty buildings on fire, starting 15 brush fires, and breaking into several homes from 2009 until April while on his route as a delivery driver for a Springfield laundry company.
    
The investigator said Zebrowski told him "people in the community should thank me" for burning down dilapidated buildings.
    
The Berkshire Eagle reports that Zebrowski was held for 90 days without bail.
    

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) - A Pittsfield woman accused of holding up four city businesses at gunpoint over several days in February has been ordered held on $50,000 bail.
    
Danielle Kenyon pleaded not guilty Thursday in Berkshire Superior Court to four armed robbery counts.
    
Prosecutors say the 49-year-old Kenyon robbed three Elm Street businesses: a Getty gas station on Feb. 5, Angelina's Submarine Shop on Feb. 18, and Palmer's Variety on Feb. 21. She is also charged with a Feb. 25 holdup at the Lipton Mart on West Housatonic Street.
    
Authorities say the thief wore a mask during the robberies and in some instances carried a handgun and in others used a garden sprayer covered in black tape.
    
The Berkshire Eagle reports that her lawyer says she had nothing to do with the holdups.
    
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