Volunteers worked to breathe new life into the historic Mount Moriah cemetery on Sunday with the goal of cleaning the place up and washing away the dark recent past. The cemetery, which sits between the edge of Philadelphia and Yeadon in Delaware County, is the site of mausoleums and crypts dati ng back to the 1850s. However, some of those historic resting places have been burglarized in recent years. According to Delaware County investigators, 34-year-old Jonathan Gerlach burglarized or desecrated 26 mausoleums and underground burial sites at Mount Moriah Cemetery. Gerlach, who is also accused of burglarizing a cemetery in Luzerne County, has been charged with 26 counts of burglary, 26 counts of criminal trespass, 100 counts of abuse of corpse, 100 counts of receiving stolen property, 26 counts of intentional desecration of public monument and other related offenses. “We really wanted to get back here to ‘mausoleum hill,’ where kind of all the bad news came from, and start to make this thing right,” said Laurel McCullough, of Friends of Mount Moriah. McCullough was one of the volunteers spanning generations who spent part of their Sunday cleaning up the cemetery, and she also was one of the first people to notice that something was up at the cemetery last fall, when Gerlach is believed to have stolen more than 100 skeletal remains from the cemetery over several months. Pennsylvania Mar 13 Hearing continued for Pa. man accused of stealing 100 skeletons from cemeteries Philadelphia Jan 13 Security improvements planned at cemetery targeted by alleged bone thief “When we first spotted that this mausoleum behind me had been opened, we thought it was just vandalism,” she said standing in front of one of the historic mausoleums desecrated. “And then it took probably about an hour of looking at it before we could really reconcile in our minds that it had been robbed.” “There are beautiful, beautiful architectural buildings,” she added. “People bought these and put their families in them because it was important, and we want to make sure that’s recognized.” The Friends of Mount Moriah say they are committed to preserving the 200-acre sacred space and returning it to its original glory. “Any help people can give us, we’re thrilled,” McCullough said. “We have events, at least one or two a month, where you don’t have to make a long-term commitment. You can come and help us.” The group is also picking up donations through their Facebook page so they can plant flowers around the land that serves as a final resting place for so many who played a significant part in the history of the Philadelphia region. “The areas that we have cleared we keep maintained,” McCulluough said. “But there’s quite a bit of this property that has not been cleared, and it can’t get cleared without more help.” The group has another event planned for next Saturday, April 25, and they’re looking for all the help they can get. As for Gerlach, he had his preliminary hearing on Friday, April 17, continued to allow his public defender to further investigate new information that has been presented to her office. ...read more read less