Florida Men Arrested for Robbing the Graves of Heroic Veterans

Florida Men Arrested for Robbing the Graves of Heroic Veterans

Two men in Florida (where else?) have been arrested for robbing veteran graves…

The dastardly crimes were carried out by Brian Montalvo Tolentino and Juan Burgos Lopez. The dastardly pair allegedly robbed four graves to collect skulls and remains for a Palo Mayombe shrine.  Palo Mayombe is an Afro-Caribbean religious movement. 

Detectives began looking for possible robbers in December after they found that four graves had been vandalized at Edgewood Cemetery in Mount Dora. According to local news reports, three of the four were veteran graves. Investigators sent cigars discovered at the scene for DNA testing, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office stated in a press release.

The DNA matched with that of Brian Montalvo Tolentino, 43, of nearby Davenport. Police in Lake County contacted the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, who obtained a warrant to take a mouth swab from Tolentino for a direct DNA comparison. When investigators questioned him, he allegedly confessed to going to the cemetery with his friend, 39-year-old Juan Burgos Lopez. Apparently, they had stolen the remains for use in a skull-filled “ritual” associated with Palo Mayombe. “Palo” is a religion with various denominations that developed in Cuba among enslaved Central African people and their descendants who originated in the Congo Basin. Palo Mayombe is one of its branches and is associated with some of the darker and more occult-like rituals of the religion.

Upon his arrest, Tolentino said that Lopez “used a crowbar to open the vaults and then removed the heads of the deceased. A police spokesman said, “He stated they removed four heads from the four graves and then returned to Lopez’s residence. He stated the heads were taken for religious practices.”

Shrine of the Dead

Investigators went to Lopez’s home on Wednesday, where they allegedly discovered “six skulls, a hand, partial arm, and multiple other large bones within what appeared to be some sort of religious shrine.” 

Police said Lopez admitted that four of the skulls were from Edgewood Cemetery, while the other two were “obtained from other practitioners.” A fake skull was also found at the scene, as were a baby alligator head, goat heads, goat skulls, turtle shells, chicken bones, raccoon skulls, and religious artifacts, authorities said. 

Lopez is part-owner of local businesses Bushikan Karate and Botanica Vititi, which sells essential oils and items used in Palo Mayombe rituals, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Department.

The motive for robbing the veteran graves

Lopez “considers himself a Tata, or religious leader, and produces YouTube videos discussing different rituals” of Palo Mayombe, police said. The religious movement, which has origins in Cuba, has been described as an apparent cult led by a former male model and a junior college cheerleader. Palo Mayombe has also been associated with other grave robbing cases in both Venezuela and other parts of the United States, including one at a Massachusetts cemetery in 2018.

“The suspects told detectives they use the human remains in their religious practice — Palo Mayombe, which is considered Santeria’s ‘evil twin’ — and they chose veterans’ graves due to the fact that their religion demands that the remains are from those who have ‘done something heroic,’” Polk County police said.

Pinpointing to a comment, he said Lopez made in one of his videos, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd noted that “he referred to cemeteries as holy sites and shopping centers.” That video has since been taken down from YouTube.

Judd also said that the men claimed that “spirits” led them to the cemetery — and to those four particular graves. The men admitted to conducting a ceremony that consisted of drinking Bacardi rum and smoking cigars at the cemetery before breaking open the graves, police said.

Tolentino has a criminal record that includes a previous arrest for cocaine possession, drug possession with intent to distribute, grand theft, and armed robbery of a bank.

The four disturbed graves belonged to Army and Korean War veteran Henry Brittain,  Army and World War I veteran Elbert Carr, Marine Corps member and police officer Calvin McNair, a good Samaritan and adult care-taker Annie Faniel.

18 thoughts on “Florida Men Arrested for Robbing the Graves of Heroic Veterans

  1. Relieve these two idiots of their skulls!
    Obvious liberals who have no respect for the dead, or for any living being!!!

  2. These scumbags need to be deported back to where ever they come from even if they are US citizens! It’s NOT a religion it’s a cult, an ideology and its F**king sick!! These are NOT decent humans they are animals!! If I were the family’s of the disturbed dead I would be jumping on someone’s desk to have them put away for ever! Great job Biden the NON president see how that 11million more illegals swarming into our country works for you! Bringing in murderers, terrorists, people caring deceases, welfare suckers, I hope they all end up at your front door you demented sick creep!

    1. Why bother to try to make this about politics? Your cancel culture is idiotic and needs to be restrained, just like this desecration of the graves of service men and women. Respect for the dead is not about politics, but about basic human dignity, which you obviously DO NOT HAVE!

      1. Thank you, Laura. Y ou are absolutley correct. To take some thing as seroius and disgusting as this and turn it into a political game is downright disgusting and outrageous..

  3. In Florida…
    So what kind of misdemeanor charge will the local State Attorney’s office drop these original charges to????? Driving with an invalid inspection sticker????
    Despicable!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. Since they believe in taking bones for their religious ceremonies, their bones should be taken now and given to a Palo Mayombe temple for proper display!

  5. This is what we let 8nto our country and are democrat voters. Like they say birds of a feather are felons together.. these two should be hu n g. We pay more for these pos, then they are worth. But the democrats kiss their @$$ and we pick up the bill. And DC IS FULL OF GRAVE ROBBERS AND SOON RESPONSIBLE. FOR MILLIONS OF GRAVES

  6. After Democrats passed a new immigration law in 1965 this is the kind of garbage that has
    been allowed to come into America.

  7. A very long prison term is what is needed no chance for early release ; plus pay for damages they cause to the graves.

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