June, 21, 2006
By Kristen Rasmussen
The Pensacola News Journal
Repairs at the historic St. Michael's Cemetery in downtown Pensacola still are under way, nearly five months after a man admitted to vandalizing at least 25 graves in his quest for jewelry to sell for cocaine.
Greg Allen Woodard, 24, who caused thousands of dollars of damage in January, was sentenced last week to 10 years in state prison.
Circuit Judge Frank Bell could have sentenced Woodard to anywhere from a maximum of 150 years in prison to a minimum of 15 months. He pleaded guilty to two counts of disturbing the contents of a tomb, 23 counts of injuring a tomb and one count each of burglary of an unoccupied structure and petty theft.
"Ten years in state prison sends a strong message that our community will not tolerate this kind of behavior," said University of West Florida archaeologist Margo Stringfield, a member of the cemetery foundation board. "I am very pleased he is being punished for the enormous amount of damage he did to our community."
Elizabeth Benchley, director of the Archaeology Institute at UWF, called the
sentence "appropriate'' in view of the "pretty egregious'' damage.
"We've had vandalism before where young people have tipped over things, but
this young man went way beyond that," she said.
Stringfield said volunteers, including members of the cemetery foundation, local U.S. Marines and UWF students, have worked consistently since January to complete modest repairs, such as replacing marble slabs.
A team of historic preservation masons from Massachusetts is scheduled to arrive next month to repair the more heavily damaged areas, including two mausolea, Stringfield said.
In one, marble was broken, exposing two caskets. In the other, marble was destroyed and a casket vandalized.
The team's project, which will cost about $30,000, is expected to take about a month, Stringfield said.
Woodard told Pensacola police he jumped a fence at the locked cemetery about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 24. He said he hid in a cemetery maintenance shed until about 9:40 a.m. when he walked out an open gate.