Someone stole 80 memorial plates from a B.C. cemetery: RCMP

Mounties are looking for a thief who targeted a B.C. cemetery, stealing property with sentimental value and worth thousands of dollars.

The thief or thieves struck a Kelowna cemetery sometime between Jan. 17 and 19, police said.

The thefts were reported a couple of days later at the Lakeview Memorial Gardens Cemetery on Dry Valley Road. Mounties were told that 11 large bronze memory boards had been taken.

These boards range in size, from about one metre by 0.6 metres (three feet by two feet) to one metre by 1.2 metres, and are estimated to be worth $20,000 each. In total, they're worth about $220,000.

On the boards were plates bearing the names of the deceased. Eighty of those plates are now missing.

"This theft shows a clear lack of respect to the family of the deceased, and I am disheartened to share such a release with the public," Kelowna RCMP Cpl. Tammy Lobb said in a statement Tuesday.

Police are asking anyone with information to come forward – including any unusual or suspicious behaviour in the area last week.

Tips can be made directly to police at 250-762-3300, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Lobb said police hope information provided by the public will lead to the person responsible being held accountable for their actions.