Coffin Caper Is an Open-and-Shut Case

Sheriff’s Detective Tony Rios has learned a few new things this week: A fine, padded “Queen Anne” chair costs about $300, and the cheapest metal coffin you can buy at the Greenwood Mortuary will still run you five grand.

“My partner said, ‘Just have me burned,’ ” Rios said with a laugh.

But his current case is no laughing matter. It involves two mortuary embalmers suspected of stealing 30 coffins valued at $400,000 from the Greenwood Mortuary at Interstate 805 and Imperial Avenue.

A witness told police that the men--who worked the day shift at the mortuary together--quietly returned in the dead of night during the past few months and filched the coffins two at a time, driving off with them in a mortuary van, Rios said.

Andrew Ruggiero, 27, of El Cajon and Norman Glasser, 36, of San Diego were arrested Wednesday and booked into County Jail on 15 counts of burglary, 15 counts of grand theft, embezzlement and conspiracy, Rios said.

“A security guard saw what was going on and reported what was happening,” Rios said. “They were taking them after midnight. They would return at night and take two coffins at a time, in the van . . . “ After they returned the van, they would go home “like nothing had happened,” Rios said.

The FBI investigated the case because officials believe the men may have sent the coffins to Illinois, where Glasser’s brother is starting a business, Rios said. But FBI officials have been unable to locate any traces of the interstate coffin trail.

Local authorities did find evidence in the La Mesa home of Ruggiero’s girlfriend, however. A search of 34-year-old Annette Lowe’s Fernwood Drive residence turned up two plush “Queen Anne” chairs believed to have come from the Greenwood Mortuary, plus “saddles”--metal contraptions used to stack coffins. Lowe, who has not been arrested, said her boyfriend told her he bought the items. She said she had no knowledge of the 30 missing coffins.

Greenwood officials declined comment Thursday, but Rios said they didn’t notice the depleting coffin inventory until the security guard told authorities what he had seen. A fresh count turned up the 30-box deficit.

“They range from metal to nice fine wood, and cost between $5,000 and $15,000 apiece,” Rios said.

Ruggiero had worked at the mortuary for about year, and Glasser had worked there longer, Rios said.

If convicted, the embalmers could face some heavy jail time. “Burglary itself carries about five years, and there’s 15 counts,” Rios said.

Rios said he hopes the coffins will turn up at a storage center or in someone’s garage.