DECATUR— A Newton County recycling company has been fined for allegedly buying cemetery flower vases from a Meridian man, authorities said.

    The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office alleged on three recent occasions M-D Metals purchased about 200 bronze cemetery flower vases totaling 992 pounds of regulated metal from Robert Eugene Davis for a total of $1,043. The vases had been stolen from Meridian Memorial Cemetery, officials said.

    On March 19, the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office charged Davis with multiple counts of grand larceny of merchandise in excess of $1,000.

    As a purchaser of regulated metal property, M-D Metals is subject to the requirements of the Mississippi Scrap Metal Dealer Act of 2008, according to the Secretary of State.

    On March 24, M-D Metals entered into an agreed consent order with the Secretary of State’s office as a resolution of administrative charges issued by the office, alleging three separate statutory violations and agreed in the future to comply with all Mississippi state law requirements.

    The company, which had no prior citation from the Secretary of State’s Office, also agreed to pay a fine of $2,250.