Santa and one of his reindeer remain in police custody.
Police returned what decorations they could to their rightful owners. However, some of the inflatable festive decor remains at the detachment.
“If you have inflatable Christmas decorations that were stolen and not reported, then call us during business hours at 250-832-6044, and let’s see if we have them in our inventory of items that we believe to be stolen,” said Staff Sgt. Scott West.
“We would like to get a Santa and one of the reindeer (not sure which one by name), along with two big lights back home before Christmas.”
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Police in Salmon Arm and Sicamous had received reports of two ‘Grinch-like’ thefts of outdoor Christmas decorations in Sicamous on Dec. 7. The stolen items were a 10-foot tall inflatable Frosty the Snowman and a large Santa in his sleigh.
An area resident reviewing social media posts saw a Sicamous woman reporting that an inflatable unicorn had also been taken from her yard and, in a separate post, a Salmon Arm resident complained an inflatable Grinch display had been taken from her yard in the Auto Road area.
A sharp-eyed resident reported that blow-up decorations matching the descriptions of all four recently-stolen items had appeared on the front lawn of a residence in southeast Salmon Arm.
“Mounties from both Sicamous and Salmon Arm attended to the Salmon Arm home where they found what they believed to be all of the stolen decorations on display in front of the home,” said Sgt. Murray McNeil, Detachment Commander for the Sicamous RCMP, in an Dec. 8 media release.
“When questioned by investigators, the resident advised they had recently purchased the items from an unnamed person and claimed they did not know they were stolen. Officers seized the items and have returned them to their rightful owners.”
