A thief caught stealing a casket with a body still inside from a Las Vegas funeral home said she doesn’t remember anything because she “blacked out from drinking six beers,” according to an arrest report.
Patricia Sierra, 47, faces charges of burglary, grand larceny, and disturbing human remains in connection with the Aug. 27 incident that was caught on surveillance footage, KLAS reported.
A person called the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police around 3 a.m. to report a body lying face down in front of the Affordable Cremation & Burial Service funeral home, with the casket abandoned on the nearby sidewalk.
Officers found the body with its feet covered with plastic bags, lying face down on some rocks near the front walkway of the property, according to an arrest report obtained by USA Today.
The dead person had arrived at the funeral home on Aug. 20 with a viewing on Aug. 26, a day before the mind-boggling theft.
Soon after, police looked at surveillance footage, which showed a woman, later identified as Sierra, entering the business by breaking the front window and reaching through it to unlock the door, according to the report.
Video shows her walking into the viewing room and dragging the casket out of the front door, making multiple trips in and out of the funeral home before leaving.
Police arrested Sierra two days later when someone recognized her at a nearby convenience store.
When speaking with officers, Sierra said she “was not trying to be malicious and was apologetic” about the incident, blaming it on a substance abuse problem that causes her to “black out” frequently, according to the report.
A detective interviewing Sierra later showed her surveillance footage of the robbery, which she said she did not remember committing and told police she “blacked out from drinking six beers,” USA Today reported.
A judge set bail at $11,000. Sierra was still in custody as of Wednesday.
“There is an ongoing investigation, so we cannot comment, other than to say an individual was arrested after attempting to burglarize our location,” a representative for Affordable Cremation and Burial Service said.
