The gates have been safely returned, and police believe they are hot on the trail of the suspected thief.

Five heavy mausoleum gates, dating as far back as the 1930s were stolen over the weekend from St. Joseph's Cemetery. They surfaced at Custom Alloy Metal in Oakland. "They weigh 150 pounds each," described Oakland Police Department office Brad Lindblom. "You know, with two people you should be able to carry them out."

The Oakland scrap shop initially declined to accept the ornate metalwork. "Mr. Penn came back with a bogus letter, basically stating that he received the gates from a church in Richmond, which had been destroyed in a fire," Lindblom explained the rouse by suspect Douglas Penn, 46. Police describe Penn as somebody with a history of property and drug crimes, and allege that he hauled the cemetery cache in a stolen car.

Custom Alloy ultimately contacted police, reporting they had paid $700 for the cemetery gates. Three of the five gates were ultimately returned to St. Joseph's.

Earlier this week, metal thieves struck in Richmond, stealing a brass valve from a chemical tank containing a toxic substance, releasing a chemical into a marshland, killing hundreds of fish.