Thief steals every holiday decoration from Pflugerville family

PFLUGERVILLE, Texas - Pflugerville police are on the lookout for a real-life "Grinch."

Last week, someone stole every single holiday decoration a family had on display in their front yard.

Both neighbors and police pitched in to help buy new decorations for this family following the recent theft and while the suspect is still at large they are taking extra measures to ensure the same thing doesn't happen again. “It was pretty heart breaking considering my son who is 4 picked out most of those decorations himself so to see them all missing was stressful,” said AJ Firenze.

While Firenze and his family were decorating their front lawn for the holiday, not everyone was in the holiday spirit. Like the Grinch, someone stole every single item they put out for the holidays. “Lasers, lights, every inflatable, everything was gone when the stuff that was staked into the drive way, lighting on the drive way they took it all,” said Firenze.

The suspect, which cameras caught driving a white car, took hundreds of dollars’ worth of items. “Put my decorations all up the night before checked on it before I went to bed, woke up in the morning everything was missing,” said Firenze.

The Pflugerville Police Department is looking to give a helping hand, as this is the season for giving. “When the call came in the dispatchers with their serving hearts lead them to purchase a gift card to give to the homeowner,” said Sergeant Philip Gero with the Pflugerville Police Department.

Neighbors also pitching in to help restore holiday cheer. “Between the donations and the gift card we were able to get our yard almost to where we want it it's still a work in progress though,” said Firenze.

As we enter the holidays, Sergeant Gero said all homeowners looking to decorate outside need to be aware. “Unfortunately it's something we see happen; it isn't super common but it happens. People put high value items in their front yard a Grinches get sticky fingers and run of with them,” said Sgt Gero.

While decorating your lawn for the holidays there are a couple things to help keep the Grinches away.

“If you're able to secure them with a chain lock or cable lock we can do follow up with home surveillance and the area with well-lit it's also a good idea to know your neighbors know their phone numbers and look out for each other,” said Sgt Gero. For Firenze, he's upping security and chaining down his new decorations as he won’t let this incident ruin his favorite time of the year.

Pflugerville police is urging folks to sign up for their digital neighborhood watch program.

This allows them to use homeowner surveillance video to help solve crimes.

If you have any information on this case, you are urged to contact police.