ALLEN - Alicia Barnes and Tracie Lueker are angry.

Their mothers are buried next to each other at Ridgeview Memorial Park.

In the last three weeks, thieves stole 230 bronze vases from the cemetery, including one from the graves.

"It's sad enough when you have to bury somebody that you love and then you come up here and then you find something like this happens. It's devastating to the family as well as the person. They've stolen something from us that's already been taken away," said Alicia Barnes.

The thefts at Ridgeview are by no means isolated.

In the last two weeks, another 300 bronze vases have been stolen from Restland Cemetery in Dallas.

Grave robbers hit in Tarrant County and from coast to coast.

"They can't even rest in peace. It's very sad," Barnes added.

Investigators believe the thieves are selling the bronze vases to unscrupulous out-of-town scrap metal dealers, who pay a few dollars per pound. The vases retail value is from $150 to $500.

"Somebody who's just looking to make money and doesn't care about anybody else and the people who are buying them are just as guilty, if not guiltier," said Barnes.

"The thieves stole the vases in close proximity of a monument of the ten commandments. They obviously didn't pay much attention to number eight: "Thou shalt not steal."

"I was heartbroken. You don't steal from anybody, let alone the dead," said Tracie Lueker.

Some cemeteries are replacing bronze vases with zinc ones, which look similar, but aren't worth nearly as much.