A 24-year-old Freetown man pleaded guilty Wednesday to six charges in a case stemming from cemetery vandalism that terrorized the town for months in 2022. The incidents included spray-painted swastikas and messages directed at police at White Cemetery, while remnants of suspected Molotov cocktails were found near Profile Rock. Jacob Dupuis admitted to six charges tied to the cemetery vandalism case.
Dupuis entered guilty pleas on Wednesday in Fall River District Court, according to New Bedford Guide. The charges included possession or control of an incendiary device or material, two counts of vandalizing a gravestone, vandalizing property, malicious destruction of property over $1,200, and tagging property, the outlet reported.
Reports on Dupuis's sentence differ. New Bedford Guide reported Dupuis was sentenced to 18 months in the House of Correction, with 90 days to serve and the remainder suspended during two years of probation. WJAR, meanwhile, reported that Dupuis received three months in prison along with two years of probation. Both accounts agree on the probationary term even as the length of incarceration differs between the two reports.
Conditions Include Counseling and Community Service
Conditions of Dupuis's probation include mandatory mental health counseling and 200 hours of community service, per the same New Bedford Guide account. The requirements apply regardless of which incarceration figure proves accurate, since both reports describe the probationary period identically.
The case traces back to March 2022, when Freetown police responded to White Cemetery on March 15 after numerous gravestones were found spray-painted red. The graffiti included swastikas, other symbols, and messages directed at law enforcement, according to the New Bedford Guide report. Two days later, on March 17, officers investigated Profile Rock, where remnants of suspected Molotov cocktails were found near a burned area, the outlet reported.
A Pattern Emerges Across Multiple Burial Grounds
Police returned to White Cemetery in May 2022 and discovered additional vandalism involving 34 headstones and memorial markers, New Bedford Guide reported. The following month, vandals struck again at Assonet Burying Ground, defacing numerous gravestones and a cemetery shed; some of that graffiti included threatening messages directed at then-Police Chief Carlton E. Abbott, per the outlet's account.
At the time, investigators believed the incidents were connected. Police said it was the third time a cemetery in Freetown had been vandalized since March and that they believed all three incidents were connected, according to CBS Boston. The Herald News similarly reported that a cemetery in town had been vandalized for the third time that year, with state and local officials also investigating the Molotov cocktails set off around Profile Rock earlier in the year.
Earlier accounts from the string of attacks painted a disturbing picture of the messages left behind. WBSM's May 7, 2022, report, citing WPRI's earlier coverage, said vandals had defaced about 35 headstones at White Cemetery in mid-March with swastikas and messages including “ha ha ha ha” and “I’m a psycho,” describing it as the second such incident within two months. Cemetery caretaker John Ashley separately estimated that 35 headstones and memorial markers had been defaced with red spray paint, according to WPRI, which reported some headstones bore swastikas while others carried messages such as “I will be back.”
Investigators Say Tip Broke the Case Open
The case went unsolved for more than three years until a breakthrough in July 2025, when Sergeant Douglas Mongeon received information identifying Dupuis as a possible suspect, New Bedford Guide reported. Further investigation by Mongeon, Patrolman Kobey Imbert, and Detective Shane Kelley produced witness statements linking Dupuis to the incidents, which ultimately led to the criminal charges, according to the outlet.
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 272, Section 73 specifically addresses wilfully destroying, mutilating, defacing, injuring or removing a tomb, monument, gravestone, veteran's grave marker, memorial plaque, flag holder, or other structure placed as a memorial of the dead, according to the Massachusetts Legislature. The charges also included malicious destruction of property over $1,200.
