WATERVILLE -- Police on Wednesday were working to find out who kicked or pushed over stones in Pine Grove Cemetery off Grove Street in the city's South End.

"There have been definitely eight to 10 headstones that have been vandalized and we're looking at some footprints and continue to investigate," police Chief John E. Morris said Wednesday.

Police were notified Tuesday of the vandalism after Sue Hamel and her sister, Tina Trahan, of Waterville, went to the cemetery to place flowers on their mother's grave and found her granite stone lying on the ground.

A footprint was visible on the face of the stone.

They and Trahan's husband, Scott, found several other stones in the vicinity toppled over as well.

"This is abhorrent," Morris said of the vandalism. "The knuckleheads that did this have no sense of the pain and anguish they've caused the loved ones."

He said the vandalism constitutes criminal mischief and a charge could be elevated to aggravated criminal mischief based on the dollar amount determined for the damage.

Police on Wednesday did not have an estimate of the monetary damage but are working with the Pine Grove Cemetery Association on that, according to Morris.

Meanwhile, Scott Trahan is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the vandalism.