Chubbuck family’s Christmas decorations returned after being stolen by Grinch-like thief
CHUBBUCK, Idaho (KIFI)– The Hofeldt family in Chubbuck, along with several neighbors, were struck by a thief who stole multiple Christmas yard decorations last week.
On December 5, Sarah Hofeldt posted video doorbell footage to Facebook of a thief taking lighted candy cane decorations from their front yard. Three days later, while the family was out of town, the thief returned and stole more yard decorations from the home.
"We were blown away," said Sarah Hofeldt. "Just blown away at the audacity of the entire situation."
The Hofeldts reported both thefts to the police.
Nicholas Hofeldt also got in contact with another neighbor who was investigating the theft of his own decorations.
"He told me that that apparently somebody had identified the person who was trying to steal his [decorations] and he confirmed that it was somebody in relatively close proximity to where we live," said Nicholas Hofeldt. "One of the pictures that I got sent of the decorations happened to be our light bulbs in his front yard."
Pocatello and Chubbuck police recovered the stolen decorations from the front yard and garage of the thief.
On December 9, police returned the decorations to the Hofeldt family.
"The emotions were there... we were happy," said Sarah Hofeldt. "We got our stuff back, it wasn't a ton of stuff, but we got our stuff back and I feel like, great, a case closed."
The Hofeldts said that they are hesitant to put their decorations out again, but that they do plan on redecorating.
They also offered tips to other homeowners to keep Grinches away this holiday season:
"Get your cameras, everyone has a Blink or Ring right now–you check them and if it goes off at night, don't ignore it," said Sarah Hofeldt. "If something happens and you see something and you catch something, throw it out on Facebook, throw it out on social media because the word gets around out there."
