Tampa police charge man with bones in backpack with desecrating grave

TAMPA — Two days after a grave was found disturbed at Woodlawn Cemetery, police arrested a man at the graveyard Tuesday night with bones in his backpack.

A security guard spotted Andres Sotelo Rivero, 41, and another man walking away from the disturbed grave Tuesday night and told them to stop, but each took off in different directions, police said. The guard chased Rivero and managed to hold him until police arrived. The other suspect got away.

Rivero, of Tampa, had a Spider-man backpack containing human skeletal remains, a hammer and a tire iron, said Lt. Ruben Delgado. Police are not sure whether Rivero was robbing the grave of valuables or stealing bones for religious purposes.

Delgado said police believe the bones belong to that grave, the final resting place of a person who died in 1932.

Rivero is charged with desecration of a grave and aggravated assault for attempting to hit the security guard with a brick. He was taken to the Orient Road jail.