Brewer City Council’s $500 reward for the arrest and conviction of those involved in last month’s vandalism at Oak Hill Cemetery paid off, although the cash has yet to be awarded.

Monday morning, June 4, Mike Henry, cemetery foreman, discovered about 50 headstones had been tipped over. American flags placed on the graves for Memorial Day had been removed and stacked in a pile. Many stones were old, brittle and beyond repair, he said. Officials estimated the damage — that which was repairable — to be $20,000.

In response to the wanton act, councilors voted during a June meeting to flush the vandals out by offering a cash reward. “Some kid must know something, and $500 would come in handy,” Councilor Larry Doughty said that evening.

Authorities apprehended the alleged culprits late last month.

According to Detective Sgt. Danny Green of the Brewer Police Department, investigations determined the vandals to be youths. He said damage was done by two boys on a lark in the cemetery, and the youths were not aware of the damage done by their actions.

Green said that after a third youth, who initially was a suspect, was cleared, he contacted authorities and spilled the beans. The two youths were apprehended and handed over to the Division of Probation and Parole’s juvenile services unit.

The case worker could not be contacted, but Bartlett Stoodley, district supervisor, said that a preliminary investigation would be made into the allegations.

That investigation, Stoodley said, could have one of three outcomes: authorities will take no further action; a contract will be drawn up between the alleged offenders, their parents and the department; or, as in more serious offenses, the case will be brought to trial.

“There’s always been problems in the cemetery,” Green said. Police are still looking for information about other incidents of vandalism.

“We want to get the message out that the cemetery is off-limits. It’s not a playground and it’s not a city park.”

Workers will go to great lengths to repair the stones, but many cannot be reset, Henry said. In many instances the stone will be laid into the ground so that the face of the stone can be seen.

Doughty said the cash reward proved effective, and that other criminal activity in the city could be quelled by the same method.