Item Photo By OWEN O’ROURKE
Sandy Durso reflects on getting her Christmas lighting equipment back after it was stolen from her home in Lynn.
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
LYNN — The Christmas Grinch who stole decorations from a West Lynn home earlier this month has turned himself in.
After the Lynn Police Department posted video surveillance of the individual stealing Christmas decorations from the house on its Facebook page, a Peabody man has turned himself and the items over to the police.
A Christmas light projector and power cords were stolen from the yard, said resident Sandy Durso. The value of the items totaled about $60, she said, but the worst part was knowing someone was on their property without them knowing.
The videos were captured by home security cameras installed outside the B Street home.
The incident happened Dec. 16 at 11:53 p.m., according to the time stamp on the videos, which Lt. Rick Donnelly said is accurate.
“We put the video on (the Facebook page) yesterday afternoon,” Donnelly said.
“Yesterday, a gentleman came in at 11:30 p.m.,” he said. “He saw himself on the news and felt really bad. He wanted to turn the equipment in.”
The man, who Donnelly said is in his 20’s and lives in Peabody, told police he had been drinking, apologized and said he was wrong.
“I hope he learned his lesson,” Durso said. “He was shamed into (turning himself in) when people noticed him in the videos.”
“We got the cameras about eight months ago after my neighbor next door was broken into,” Durso said. “My husband (Ronnie Durso) wanted to get the cameras.”
Durso said she thought the idea was ridiculous and didn’t expect to have a need for the added security.
“I didn’t want them at first,” she said.
Still, she agreed and three cameras were installed in front of the house. One of the cameras points towards the driveway, another towards the front lawn, and the other at the front porch.
When she and her husband realized decorations had been stolen from their yard, they watched the surveillance videos to see who was responsible.
“We thought it was kids at first,” said Durso. “We we saw (the video), he looked about 35 to 40. It’s trespassing. It’s creepy.
“We saw that he parked and walked over like he lived here,” she said.
He was also driving a nice car, she said.
“He came on the porch and checked out the wiring,” she said. “He looked at where the wires are plugged into the house and then came back on the porch.
“My husband was watching TV in the next room,” she said.
After the man turned himself in, the victims were alerted and made the decision not to press any criminal charges. They were expecting the stolen property to be returned by tonight, Durso said.
“They asked my husband what he wanted to do about it and he said ‘nothing, as long as he gives everything back,” Durso said.
