Photo: CBS 12
There's a real-life Grinch in Martin County.
A woman wearing a Santa hat is caught on video, stealing a toy donation box from Barbecue Beer Company restaurant in Jensen Beach.
Sheriff John Budensiek says the middle-aged woman can be seen pulling the box full of toys out of the restaurant.
"She's wearing glasses. She is probably older than 50. Blonde hair, she's wearing a jacket, thin build, can't really tell the height.”
When someone outside asked the woman what she was doing, she said she was taking the toys to "the fairgrounds," alluding to another toy drive for the United Way.
"The (Martin County) fairgrounds is currently doing a Christmas drive for one of our other non-profits (United Way Holiday Project) right now. We tried to make sure that she was not actually working for a non-profit. She is not working for United Way, which she referenced, and she's not working for Rina."
The box of toy donations was for Mrs. Rina's House of Blessings, a hospitality house through Elev8Hope for kids and families experiencing crisis or homelessness.
"There was a fire, and these toys are going to that family that lost everything and she took their Christmas” said Christine Dicondina, a manager at Barbeque Beer Co. "They have kids in hospice right now. Some toys are going to them. It's just horrible."
The restaurant's owner wanted answers, first posting the surveillance videos on the establishment's Facebook page instead of filing a police report.
Sheriff Budensiek says more people are opting to do that first in these situations.
"Social media is not 911, and they actually create more problems for us in our investigation than they solve with having people weigh in with their opinions. Evidence can be deleted because now the suspects sometimes know that we're looking for them when they see those videos."
He continues:
"Going to social media first is the wrong way to do business. Tell us first, let us investigate. The suspects know we're looking for them. Digital evidence can be destroyed. Physical evidence can be thrown away. They hide on us, so we can't go and interview them. There's a lot of things that can go wrong. It's better for us to get ahead of it."