FOX CROSSING, Wis. (WFRV) – A Fond du Lac County man is facing theft charges following the completion of an investigation into the missing historic iron cross gravestone markers stolen from a Fox Crossing cemetery.
According to a release from the Fox Crossing Police Department, six historic iron cross gravestone markers were reported stolen on May 12, 2025, by the groundskeeper of the St. Patrick’s Cemetery on 350 North Green Bay Road in the Village of Fox Crossing.
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The stolen crosses were each about four feet tall, three feet wide, almost 100 pounds, and estimated to be about 150 years old.
Soon after the start of the investigation, one of the stolen crosses was seen by detectives as being listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace at a home in the Town of Lamartine in Fond du Lac County.
Officers went to the listed address and recovered one of the stolen crosses that was found displayed in the front yard of the home. While the primary resident of the home was said not to be home, detectives determined that the crosses were likely stolen by 58-year-old Bradley W. Bloch, the resident’s father.
Officials state that Bloch’s vehicle was seen near the St. Patrick’s Cemetery on May 9, which would be within the time frame of when the crosses were stolen. Despite the information given, Bloch denied to detectives that he had ever been in the area, stating that his car was in his garage and he was in Ripon.
Using cellular location data, detectives were able to confirm that Bloch’s phone had also been in the immediate area of the cemetery at the same time as his vehicle.
In June, another one of the crosses appeared on eBay and was traced to a buyer in Illinois, with the buyer confirming they bought the cross from Bloch. Other online sales were tracked to buyers in Kewaunee and Waupun, with three of the crosses being recovered from one home in Kewaunee.
In Waupun, detectives say they found and recovered the sixth cross from a buyer who confirmed they bought it from Bloch, with Bloch telling them the cross was “set to be replaced.”
Police report that the investigation found Bloch had used Facebook to arrange the multiple sales and instructed the buyers to pick up the stolen crosses from an address in Oakfield. Each stolen cross was determined to cost about $10,000 to $$15,000 to replace, with some of the costs potentially being higher due to the “historic nature” of each cross.
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Based on the evidence found throughout the investigation, the Fox Crossing Police Department has referred six counts of Theft to the Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office.
The Fox Crossing Police Department thanks all cooperating agencies and community members
who assisted in the recovery of these irreplaceable historic artifacts that marked the final resting
places of some of Wisconsin’s residents from the 1800s.The Fox Crossing Police Department
Court records show that Bloch is expected to make his initial appearance in court at 8:45 a.m. on October 6.
