BURBANK MEN ARRESTED AFTER HUMAN SKULL FOUND.

Byline: Keith Stone Daily News Staff Writer

After police found a human skull and Jewish cemetery signs in a Burbank house, they arrested two men who they said Wednesday are linked to a neo-Nazi rock band.

Jacob Luis Rupe, 20, of Burbank was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of illegal removal of human remains, grand theft, vandalism and receiving stolen property, said Burbank police Lt. Larry Koch.

Craig Matthew Lax, 21, also of Burbank was arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property, vandalism and grand theft, Koch said.

Detectives could not determine the source of the skull and have called in forensic experts from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, Koch said.

So far they know the skull did not come from Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles or Glenhaven Memorial Park in Sylmar, the cemeteries that the two suspects are accused of desecrating, Koch said.

Police found the skull and two signs during a search of a house in the 2300 block of North Fairview Street, Koch said.

Also seized was a shirt emblazoned with writing from a ``neo-Nazi, punk-rock band,'' with which Rupe and Lax are associated, Koch said. One of the suspects has a shaved head, but the other does not, he said.

Both men are scheduled to be arraigned today in Burbank Municipal Court.

Detectives took out the search warrant on the house after a guest there told them about the skull and signs, and said ``he didn't feel it was right for them to have these items,'' Koch said.

Mount Sinai building facilities manager Frank Gilbert was outraged by the thefts.

``I'd like to prosecute them not for the actual vandalism, but just for the act itself - the desecration in a cemetery,'' Gilbert said.

One sign described the meaning of statues erected to commemorate the Holocaust, and the other sign marked a section reserved for a temple, Gilbert said. Both signs had been taken more than a year ago.

From a Jewish section of Glenhaven cemetery, Rupe and Lax are suspected of having broken into crypts to steal three grave markers and flower urns, Koch said.

Glenhaven cemetery officials could not be reached for comment.