Man Charged in Theft of Skulls From Cemetery

A homeless man was charged with stealing at least five skulls from Brooklyn’s Cypress Hill Cemetery and selling them, police said.

Matias Frias, 21, was charged Wednesday. An officer said at least one skull was meant for a woman who practices Santeria, which combines ancient African beliefs and Catholicism. But New York Newsday said they probably were taken for a cult to which Firas belongs.

The skulls were from bodies that had been interred in mausoleums more than 100 years ago and were stolen during sporadic grave robberies beginning in June.