(A) Pursuant to G.S. § 14-149, it is a Class I felony, without authorization of law, or the consent of the surviving spouse or next of kin of the deceased, to knowingly, and willfully:
(1) Open, disturb, destroy, remove, vandalize, or desecrate any casket, or other repository of any human remains, by any means including plowing under, tearing up, covering over, or otherwise obliterating, or removing any grave, or any portion thereof;
(2) Take away, disturb, vandalize, destroy, tamper with, or deface any tombstone, headstone, monument, grave marker, grave ornamentation, or grave artifacts erected, or placed, within any cemetery to designate the place where human remains are interred, or to preserve, and perpetuate, the memory, and the name, of any person. This subsection (A)(2) shall not apply to the ordinary maintenance, and care, of a cemetery.
(B) Pursuant to G.S. § 14-149, it is a Class H felony, without authorization of law, or the consent of the surviving spouse or next of kin of the deceased, to knowingly and willfully disturb, destroy, remove, vandalize, or desecrate any human remains that have been interred in a cemetery.
(C) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a professional archaeologist, as defined in G.S. § 70-28(4), acting pursuant to the provisions of G.S. Chapter 70, Article 3.
(Code 1976, § 9.52) (Ord. 12-75, passed 10-20-1975)
Cross-reference:
Garbage and refuse, Ch. 11.
Statutory reference:
Defacing, or desecrating, grave sites, G.S. § 14-148; desecrating, plowing over, or covering up graves, G.S. § 14-149.