We have another story of a thief likely to receive a lump of coal for Christmas. This time the Whoville is located in Saco, Maine where a video shows a woman allegedly stealing a Christmas Wreath from a headstone in a cemetery.
Police reports indicate at least fifteen wreaths stolen from various graves at Laurel Hill Cemetery. After a previous incident, a family member of one of the deceased placed a wildlife camera on a tree to record any future thefts. The camera proved worthy in its capture of a Grinch in the act.
But that was not the ending of this Christmas Story.
A friend of a woman resting at the cemetery, Gesele Roy, said in an interview:
…[S]he asked me “Don’t forget me at Christmas.” I promised, you know, I will never forget you and her husband Tom and I, every year it’s a ritual. We always go. It’s the weekend after Thanksgiving and we make sure her grave is decorated—every year.
Video recorded a short haired woman driving a black SUV remove a wreath from a grave and take it from the cemetery. In an interview by WMTW News Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey Holland pledged to pinch the Grinch.
“If anybody looks at it and thinks they know who it is, even if it’s wrong, we’d like to have the information. It’s helpful to us. We can rule people out and we never know where that’s going to lead us to.”
Police placed the video into social media and assigned two detectives to the case.
The video proved useful and the Grinch seemed to have a change of heart.
Saco Police reported Ms. Pamela Golarz turned herself in. She is accused in the theft of fifteen wreaths valued at over eight hundred dollars. Police reportedly acted upon tips generated from news reports showing the footage from the Wildlife Camera and served a search warrant on Pamela’s residence where six wreaths were discovered along with others located at her neighbors’ homes.
Pamela reportedly stands charged with Misdemeanor Theft, Receiving Stolen Property, and Falsifying Physical Evidence. If convicted and incarcerated it is unknown if she will be served The Roast Beast.
By Darren Smith
Sources:
WMTW News (Includes Video)
Photo Credit: Soco Police Department
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Msjettexas…you obviously need moar different doggies for your yard 🙂
I’m on the board of our HOA. We were having issues of someone that kept turning on the water sprinklers late at night and on a certain street. Our landscaping guy said someone was turning it and changing the schedule. We were on level 3 watering with our city because of no rain. We were worried that the city would give us a ticket and it would be a whopping ticket too. $300 plus for every house being watered during the prohibited times.
So I bought a trail camera and put it in a tree in front of the control box. It has night vision on it too. We caught the culprit, it was a former HOA board member. She never gets elected, she always volunteers after an election and if there’s a open spot, she always volunteers to take it. She is one of those busy body types and tells everyone’s business, and who is behind on their dues kind of thing.
She wanted to be over the landscaping committee but wasn’t chosen. So she set out to try and screw the member who was over it by turning the water on late at night and trying to get the city to give our complex a big fat watering ticket. She has a key to the control box and still claims she doesn’t and it wasn’t her. We ended up putting a big chain around the box with a lock and she was voted off the HOA board again.
This lady has lost her marbles. I had to put up a wrought iron gate in my driveway to keep her out. She would come into my yard, walk up my driveway into my backyard and just mess with my dogs or look around all of the time and mostly when I wasn’t home. So I guess there’s one in every city. lol
Msjettexas – we just have committees to fine people 🙂 We have a huge landscaping company that does all the watering. 🙂
I’m curious, what happened to the wreath????
rafflaw…my better half, Judi, is in Washington DC participating in that wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery. She felt it was very import to her to be there. I agree. Those lying there gave far more than I did in my time.
Gave up placing anything expensive on family member’s grave. Too close to the road, too convenient to steal from and his neighbors never saw anything. Unfortunate it has to be like this. The dead don’t care, but it makes the living feel better specially on holidays. So, I’ll just keep cutting up my schrubs and make the wreathes myself.
I sure hope this Grinch stays away from the wreaths being put on the markers at Arlington National Cemetery this weekend.
DBQ – I am with you. I cannot understand the mindset of people who would do this. However, I just finished watching both seasons of Dead Like Me and I do know that the dead do not care. 🙂 So the wreaths are for the living. Hang her and then give her a trial. If Ferguson has taught me anything it is that we have our judicial priorities backwards.
We have bought our Christmas Wreath from the local Boy Scout Troop that make them fresh. A great smell when you first get them. That is a tradition w/ many troops and a good cause.
I cannot fathom WHY someone would steal other’s Christmas decorations. And I REALLY cannot fathom how anyone could concieve steal decorations from graves.
This has to be one of the lowest types of crimes.
Make her wear a sandwich board sign and stand in a public place with her name and what she did. Embarrass her and let people shun her.
I t used to be public humiliation would be enough to deter this type of crime. When adults act with the thoughtfulness of a misguided teenager then treat them like one. Community service at the graveyard in the morning and in the town square in the afternoon.