Three teens charged with grave robbing

www.iberianet.com ^

[esryle]

Three New Iberia teen-agers were arrested for grave robbing after a headstone and human remains were discovered at one of their homes.

Iberia Parish Sheriff Sid Hebert said deputies found a duffel bag containing a skull and several other bones in a bedroom at 406 Duperier St., the home of suspect Jobe J. Wright. He said the headstone was discovered under Wright's front porch.

Wright, Chantz Choate and Charles Babineaux, all 17, were booked into the Iberia Parish Jail Sunday on simple burglary charges. Hebert said Choate and Babineaux have since been released, while Wright remains jailed on a $25,000 bond.

Hebert said the boys told investigators they were followers of the Gothic movement, and that possession of human remains was part of their beliefs. He said the headstone and remains were taken from a tomb at St. Peter's Cemetery on New Year's Eve.

"It's pretty bizarre," Hebert said. "I can't imagine anything further from the norm than that."

Hebert said deputies made the discovery following anonymous reports of grave desecration. He said the investigation started as a tip on the sheriff's Web site.

"Once we started doing background checks, we started to figure out who we were dealing with," Hebert said. "When we went to the first home on Duperier, it didn't take long for the pieces of the puzzle to start to fit together."

Hebert said after they were caught, the boys accompanied investigators to the cemetery at the corner of French and Pershing streets. He said it appeared only one grave was violated.

Hebert said the grave was "extremely old" and bore only the letters "JCA." He said

the remains are in the custody of Iberia Parish Coroner Dr. James Falterman Sr.

Falterman said, because the tomb was unmarked, investigators may never determine who the remains actually belong to.

"The bottom line is that this is a violation of our contemporary standards,"

Falterman said. "The deepest thing I feel is for the families and the relatives of this

person, no matter how far they are separated. They have to know that their mom or dad or brother or sister is part of a grave robbing for some ancient cultural satisfaction."

Hebert said the boys told authorities they did not intend to damage the remains, only to possess them. Falterman described their actions as "inexcusable and incomprehensible," saying they took the bones "for the enjoyment of their grossly abnormal satanic behavior."

Attempts to reach the boys were unsuccessful.

Falterman said the Gothics were a rough, brutal tribe who swept through the Roman Empire more than 2,000 years ago, but Hebert said many of today's Gothics are children.

"Common things to look for would be black clothing with body piercing or alterations," he said in a press release. "Many of the followers have black painted lips and nails, and commonly they may have either tattoos of satanic symbols or other symbols similar in nature."

"Much of the communication between followers is done via the Internet. Indicators for parents should be glaring. It not uncommon for obvious signs such as painted or drawn symbols in their bedroom or areas they may have access. One of the common signs is the star of David in an upside down configuration, or slanted."

[esryle]

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[holymoly]

Indicators for parents should be glaring.

Assuming the parents even give a rip.

[Sax]

The Star of David is symmetrical - how can you tell if it's upside down? Is this guy mistaking a pentagram for the Star of David?!

[cripplecreek]

I personally know a local kid who did the same thing. He's not into the goth thing. He thinks he's a gang banger.

The little crud broke into a crypt and stole the bones and stashed them in a neighbors camper. The neighbor found the bones and called the police and the police called the FBI in. He's been doing weekends in the juvenile home ever since.

The kid is 16 now and will be in prison before his 18th birthday because he thinks he's cool.

I can pin point where the parents went wrong because I watched it happen. The mother has always called any form of discipline "abuse" and the kid ran rampant.

[Safetgiver]

Sure would surprise one of these numbnuts if they dug up some dude that died of yellow fever or something similar, wouldn't it?