In a case that the president of the New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association said reflects a disturbing trend in tough economic times, a North Sandwich man is accused of stealing the iron gate from a 1785 cemetery in Bridgewater, and selling it as scrap to a salvage dealer.

A Grafton County Superior Court grand jury this month indicted John Campbell, 43, on a felony charge of theft by unauthorized taking of an item with a value greater than $1,000.

But Bridgewater Police Chief EJ Thompson said Thursday the gate had much higher historic value to townspeople as part of the entrance to Old Home Cemetery, the oldest among a half-dozen town cemeteries in Bridgewater.

And said the chief, the gate is believed to have been stolen in May 2011. By the time its disappearance was discovered and reported, and Campbell arrested, the gate was long gone and likely destroyed.

“It was a unique gate, it had a special design and markings. He admitted to me that he had stolen it and disposed of it with a scrap dealer,” Thompson said of Campbell.

The cemetery is on a Class IV road in a remote area of town. The person who noticed the gate’s absence told selectmen, according to Thompson, and then the matter was reported to him.

About 15 months went by between the alleged theft and the indictment.

“It took some time,” said Thompson, who said the arrest was not Campbell’s first interaction with police.

“I know him from other incidents,” the chief said.

A telephone listing could not be found for Campbell, who, according to the indictment, lives on Stevenson Hill Road in North Sandwich.

The New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association concerns itself primarily with issues that pertain to the state’s 4,375 private burial grounds, rather than municipal cemeteries.

Nevertheless, Richard Alperin, president of the 290-member association, said whether public or private, cemeteries — especially in remote locations — are vulnerable to thieves and vandals.

“It’s obviously a problem. The scrap steel and scrap metal industry has now come to the aid of people who need money. Manhole covers and storm-drain grates are disappearing from dead-end streets,” and other locations where thieves are less likely to be observed, he said.

“Maybe we need laws to make it a crime for dealers to buy these items,” he said.

Alperin suggested that at least an “education program” for salvage dealers would be a good idea, both to cut off funding for thieves, and possibly to lead police to recover such stolen items as Old Home Cemetery’s gate.

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Bob Hookway may be reached at bhookway@newstote.com.