Police said Ryan admitted to the theft after Roberson told them she’d written the name “Enz” on a basket of flowers placed at her mother’s grave at Mother’s Day in May.
The investigating officer, David Short, wrote in his report a basket of flowers hanging on Ryan’s porch on Covington Avenue when he went to talk with her included the “Enz” name when he took a close look at the basket.
Ryan, who pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of theft, was sentenced Wednesday in Miami County Municipal Court to a $50 fine, court costs, a suspended 10-day jail sentence, a year of probation and 40 hours of community service. A notation on the case file said she was ordered to stay out of the cemetery.
Enz said he was dissatisfied with the case outcome, feeling it was not aggressively pursued.
“She didn’t deserve to be stolen off of,” Kenny Enz said. He and his daughter said Joyce Enz had a soft heart, sending $5 to every charity that sent her address labels in the mail.
Roberson and her father said Friday they’d experienced a series of theft of flowers and other items from the gravesite of Joyce Enz, beginning the day after her burial at age 69 in February.
They had been watching the gravesite, next to a cemetery road, when they saw a van parked nearby drive slowly away and through the cemetery. They followed it to the Covington Avenue address, where the basket later was found. Ryan no longer lives at the Covington Avenue address, but still resides in Piqua, according to the court file.
An emotional Enz said he was willing to talk about the thefts to try to keep other families from the added grief of someone stealing from a gravesite. “If people read about this, maybe they will think twice,” he said.
“The sad part is, my mom, if she were alive would give the flowers to her,” Roberson said.
Enz and Roberson said they don’t have a complaint with the cemetery operators, but know of others who have had flowers and other items taken from graves. A phone message left at the cemetery Friday was not returned.
About the Author