                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

INJURIES TO CHURCHES, CHURCH PROPERTY, CEMETERIES, BURIAL GROUNDS, ETC.; PENALTY
(§ 18.2-127)

A. Any person who willfully or maliciously commits any of the following acts is
guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor:

   1. Destroys, removes, cuts, breaks, or injures any tree, shrub, or plant on
   any church property or within any cemetery or lot of any memorial or
   monumental association;

   2. Destroys, mutilates, injures, or removes and carries away any flowers,
   wreaths, vases, or other ornaments placed within any church or on church
   property, or placed upon or around any grave, tomb, monument, or lot in any
   cemetery, graveyard, or other place of burial; or

   3. Obstructs proper ingress to and egress from any church or any cemetery or
   lot belonging to any memorial or monumental association.

B. Any person who maliciously places any dead animal within any church or on
church property is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

C. Any person who willfully or maliciously destroys, mutilates, defaces,
injures, or removes any object or structure permanently attached or affixed
within any church or on church property, any tomb, monument, gravestone, or
other structure placed within any cemetery, graveyard, or place of burial, or
within any lot belonging to any memorial or monumental association, or any
fence, railing, or other work for the protection or ornament of any tomb,
monument, gravestone, or other structure aforesaid, or of any cemetery lot
within any cemetery is guilty of a Class 6 felony. A person convicted under this
section who is required to pay restitution by the court shall be required to pay
restitution to the church, if the property damaged is property of the church, or
to the owner of a cemetery, if the property damaged is located within such
cemetery regardless of whether the property damaged is owned by the cemetery or
by another person.

D. This section shall not apply to any work which is done by the authorities of
a church or congregation in the maintenance or improvement of any church
property or any burial ground or cemetery belonging to it and under its
management or control and which does not injure or result in the removal of a
tomb, monument, gravestone, grave marker or vault. For purposes of this section,
&#8220;church&#8221; shall mean any place of worship, and &#8220;church
property&#8221; shall mean any educational building or community center owned or
rented by a church.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 18.1-244; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 1982, c. 561;
1983, c. 579; 1990, c. 510; 2004, c. 203; 2020, c. 485.