Men Robbed Graves Of Veterans Because They Have "Stronger Spirits"

Two men, a 43 year old Brian Tolentino and his friend 39 year old Juan Lopez decided one night to do a little grave robbing. According to reports the men did this as a bit of a ritual. Before they would vandalize the graves the men would take a drink of Bacardi and spit it onto the ground, then they would smoke a cigar and exhale the smoke as a way to protect themselves from the spirits. The men vandalized 4 graves total, three of which belonged to members of the armed forces, a Korean War vet, a WWI vet, and a Marine who still had his uniform on when they opened the grave. When asked why the hero's grave, Juan said that the spirit is much stronger in a hero than it is of a normal person, and that when you have the skull of a hero, not only is it stronger, but it can also protect you from evil. Juan also referred to cemeteries as "holy sites and shopping centers" and said that it's hard to get human remains in this country to practice his religion. Both men were taken in for 4 counts each of disturbing contents of a grave and abuse of a dead body along with 1 count disturbing contents of a grave. Juan was the only one charged with buying, selling, & trafficking dead bodies.