Gravestones in Bristol Twp. cemetery targeted by vandal

BRISTOL, Pa. (WPVI) -- Serena Chapman, of Bristol, says what ended with her loved one's gravesites vandalized started last month when she was visiting the Bristol Cemetery.

She says she wasn't here very long before a member of the grounds crew became agitated that her vehicle was allegedly blocking a pathway.

"He comes with the backhoe. He comes all the way around. He goes behind me and he's cursing me out the entire time," she recalled.

Chapman says the groundskeeper went on to launch a tirade of racial epithets and offensive gestures.

So, she formally complained to officials from the cemetery and posted a video telling the entire story, which has since gone viral.

A few days later, cemetery officials posted a message on Facebook saying several members of that grounds crew had resigned, and Chapman says that gave her some peace of mind.

But about a week later, she and her mother, Jacqueline, returned to find her family's grave sites vandalized with paint, along with some other kind of sticky brown substance.

In fact, many other headstones were vandalized in the same manner as well.

Jacqueline Chapman says knowing her daughter was verbally abused was bad enough.

"It angered me and it hurt me because it hurt her. But then to come out here to see that each one of our family's stones had been defaced really made me angry."

Investigators say that while the grounds crew at the center of the story is being questioned, a man named Justin Atkins was arrested for allegedly starting a small fire at the Bristol Cemetery during the overnight hours of March 30.

Chapman says regardless of who is responsible, she is eager for the truth to surface.

"Whoever did this, I don't care who you are, who you think I am, you're not going to shut me up," she says.

The person responsible will face charges, including vandalism and criminal mischief, maybe even hate crime charges, depending on who was involved.