Grinch steals Christmas at police headquarters www.privateofficer.com

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Grinch steals Christmas at police headquarters www.privateofficer.com

Atlanta Georgia, nov. 28, 2007 Atlanta Police are trying to figure out who stole $50,000 worth of gifts destined for needy children.The gifts were being stored by The Empty Stocking Fund inside the basement of City Hall East, which also houses police headquarters.
Donald Crawford, executive director of The Empty Stocking Fund, told 11Alive News the stolen items include hundreds of watches, MP3 players and digital radios."It's heart-breaking and frustrating because you'd like to think the good about everybody in society," Crawford said.
The Empty Stocking Fund is a non-profit organization that buys gifts for needy children using donations from individuals and corporations. Crawford said someone broke in to the toy warehouse through a basement window sometime last week. An employee first noticed the broken window and missing gifts on Saturday, after the Thanksgiving holiday.Atlanta Police Officer Ronald Campbell said investigators suspect at least two people were involved in the burglary. He said a private security firm is responsible for securing the building.Despite the break-in, Crawford said The Empty Stocking Fund will open its Santa Village as scheduled.
"The grinch is not going to win," he said. "Fortunately, they didn't steal everything we had in those inventory categories, so now we're just looking to get those things replaced so we have enough to finish out the entire three-week season."Starting Thursday, eligible parents will have a chance to pick out toys for their children in the Stocking's Santa Village. Last year, The Empty Stocking Fund served more than 46,000 children, who were referred by DFCS.Crawford said security has been beefed up to prevent another break-in. He said he believes the thieves knew they were stealing children's Christmas gifts."Normally this is an empty space, so they would have no reason to break in if they didn't have an idea of what they were after," he said.Crawford said replacing the stolen items will be costly.
To make a donation, you can log on to http://www.emptystockingfund.org/.

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