Man accused of stealing skeletons from cemeteries to appear in court

A Pennsylvania man who is accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from cemeteries is expected to appear in court on Friday.

Jonathan Gerlach, 34, was arrested in January and charged with 26 counts of burglary, 26 counts of criminal trespass, 100 counts of abuse of corpse, 100 counts of receiving stolen property, 26 counts of intentional desecration of public monument and other related offenses.

Gerlach is accused of stealing human remains from cemeteries in Delaware County, Philadelphia and Luzerne County.

Gerlach, who is being represented by a public defender, was initially expected to appear in a Delaware County courtroom on Friday, March 13, 2026, for a preliminary hearing. However, his attorney cited new information that has been presented to her office and said it needed to be “further investigated.”

The attorney did not indicate what kind of information has been discovered, but prosecutors did not object to the hearing being continued.

According to investigators, 26 mausoleums and underground burial sites were burglarized or desecrated at Mount Moriah Cemetery. According to the criminal complaint, the thefts occurred between Nov. 7, 2025, and Jan. 6, 2026, in both the Delaware County and Philadelphia sections of the Mount Moriah Cemetery, as well as a cemetery in Plains Township, Luzerne County.

Gerlach was arrested by Yeadon police in January after detectives were conducting surveillance in the Philadelphia section of Mount Moriah Cemetery on Cemetery and Chester avenues when they spotted a car with numerous bones and skulls in the backseat, according to officials.

The driver – later identified as Gerlach – was then spotted leaving the cemetery holding a burlap bag, crow bar and other items, police said. 

Investigators took Gerlach into custody. He then allegedly admitted to stealing around 30 sets of human remains.

Investigators then executed a search warrant at his home on Washington Avenue in Ephrata and recovered 100 human skeletons as well as eight more human remains inside a storage locker that Gerlach owned on East Main Street in Ephrata, according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators are still working to identify all of the remains and return them to the victim’s loved ones for reburial.