3 Men Charged With Digging Up Relatives From Maine Cemetery

Three men from Maine are accused of digging up their dead relatives and reburying them in a family plot in another cemetery, the Portland Press Herald reported.

Kevin Lewis, his brother and uncle allegedly dug up the ashes of Lewis' father and brother from Steep Falls Cemetery in Standish and transported them to their family plot in Maple Hill Cemetery in Limington last fall.

Cumberland County police found out about the alleged grave transfer this month when one of the deceased's former girlfriends complained. The ashes were returned to their original burial plot on Aug. 2, the Associated Press reported.

Lewis, 42, said he saw nothing wrong with digging up his father, Richard W. Lewis, and his brother Richard "Trent" Lewis from their unmarked graves.

"We just thought we had a right. My father's parents are there (in Limington) and it's where everybody else will be buried," he told the Press Herald.

In fact, Kevin Lewis was the one who told his dead brother's ex-girlfriend about the transfer. The unnamed girlfriend was outraged because apparently she was the one who buried Richard W. Lewis when he died in 2003 as well as her ex- boyfriend when he died in 2007.

Kevin Lewis said he appreciated everything the ex-girlfriend did for his family, including the $200 she used to purchase the original plot to bury his brother. The family later agreed to move the father's ashes to the same plot.

"We did dig them up and move them, but she didn't pay for my father's funeral," he told the newspaper.

Kevin Lewis, his surviving brother Travis Lewis, 37, and his uncle Calvin Lewis, 71, were charged with abuse of a corpse and are scheduled to appear in court Nov. 18.

The law does not differentiate between bodies and ashes, according to the AP.