MAYSVILLE, Ky. -- A Mason County grand jury indicted a farm owner on a class D felony, accusing him of damaging a historic cemetery.
Richard Osborne Huber faces a count of violating graves, according to the Ledger-Independent in Maysville.
Huber took WCPO to the plot of his land where the cemetery is, or was, along Clift Pike, saying none of the bodies has been removed. He also showed a headstone belonging to Hugh McIlvain, born in 1795 and died in 1863, that remained on site.
Huber said he fenced off another cemetery on his land in Fleming County, Kentucky, and cleaned it up to make it presentable, because, he said, it was important to him.
Sue Ellen Grannis, curator of the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center, said cemeteries are an important part of the commonwealth's heritage.
"They can teach us so much about history, but to me, the most important thing is the emotional connection to family to know where their ancestors were," she said.
Behind the museum, for example, Daniel Boone's cousin is buried in Maysville's first cemetery.
Huber did not want to talk about the case in Mason County because of the criminal charge. According to the Ledger-Independent, Mason County Sheriff Patrick Boggs had the case under investigation for nearly a year and indicated several headstones were beyond repair.
