Man charged with theft of vets’ grave markers

A Utica man was charged with theft after Licking County deputies caught him with dozens of veterans’ grave markers that he is accused of taking from a Knox County cemetery to sell for scrap.

Dustin M. Johnson, 24, also faces a charge in Licking County Municipal Court of possessing criminal tools after he was found with a 5-gallon trash can filled with 43 metal grave markers at a Fallsburg Road storage unit northeast of Newark.

Deputies were called to the scene just after 10 p.m. Friday about a possible burglary in progress. They found Johnson and another person on the property, sweating and with “grass and dirt on their legs,” according to a sheriff’s office report and court documents. His female companion has not been charged.

Johnson told deputies he had run out of gas and planned to steal fuel from a vehicle parked at the storage units. The grave markers were found Johnson in the vehicle he was driving and were allegedly taken from a cemetery near Bladensburg, according to documents.

Johnson, who deputies noted was “known to flee from law enforcement,” has a criminal record that includes multiple misdemeanor counts in municipal court and a felony conviction for breaking and entering in 2013 in Licking County Common Pleas Court.

The sheriff’s office report for the latest incident also notes that Johnson was wanted on a warrant from Newark police.