Bensalem Mausoleum Burglar Must Pay Restitution

BENSALEM TOWNSHIP, PA — A Philadelphia man must pay $87,750 in restitution for stealing bronze mausoleum doors from the Roosevelt Memorial Park and throughout the Philadelphia region, authorities said.

In a court appearance on Monday, Michael Evangelist pleaded guilty to 10 felony charges of criminal trespassing and theft of metal as part of a negotiated plea agreement, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.

Evangelist, in his guilty plea, received 5-23 months in Bucks County Prison with a consecutive period of probation, authorities said.

Last September, Bensalem Police said Evangelist had an active warrant for three thefts of bronze mausoleum doors in Roosevelt Memorial Park.

The thefts occurred in December 2024 and February 2025 and were valued at $8,000, police said.

Bensalem Police opened the investigation the day after Christmas last year when they were called to the Roosevelt Memorial Park Cemetery on Old Lincoln Highway for a report of four doors stolen off two mausoleums.

Evangelist was accused of stealing more than a dozen brass mausoleum doors worth more than $180,000 from cemeteries in Delaware, Pennsylvania, including Bucks and Montgomery counties.

Evangelist allegedly cut up the doors, some in place for decades, and sold them to metal recycling and scrap businesses in Delaware and Philadelphia.