The year saw a rise in car thieves, carjackings, and mass retail shopping thefts, but another thief is finishing off the year: the Christmas tree thief.
A San Francisco Bay area couple had started their holiday season by picking out a Christmas tree on Friday and tying it to the roof of their SUV.
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Seriously. Who steals a family’s newly purchased Christmas tree? This happened to a man in San Mateo on Friday evening, 10 minutes after he went into a store to run an errand.
Watch as the white SUV person snips each rope & loads the tree into his vehicle like it’s no big deal.… pic.twitter.com/LzS3bjRk1h
— Dion Lim (@DionLimTV) December 4, 2023
The victims parked in a parking lot to run into a store for an errand. While in the store, a security camera captured a white vehicle pulling up alongside the SUV. The driver was then seen getting out, quickly snipping off the ropes on the car, and lifting the tree off the roof. The tree thief is seen lifting their trunk door and shoving the tree in the back of their vehicle. The vehicle drives off with the tree inside.
The tree thief suspect did not know at the time that he stole a Christmas tree from a man named Jesus.
According to local news, the tree lot reportedly replaced the stolen tree for Jesus with a new one.
Christmas trees are also being taken from sidewalks and tree farms.
In Salina, Kansas, a business group decorated the downtown sidewalks with 42 Christmas trees with lights and ornaments to ring in the holiday cheer across the city.
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But last weekend, one of the Christmas trees was stolen, and police are now investigating.
In Kennewick, Washington, police jailed a man spotted running down the street in all black clothes with a stolen Christmas tree on his shoulders. The man had stolen the tree from a tree farm and was already wanted for other warrants out for his arrest.
