Thieves caught on camera stealing Christmas decorations in Indio neighborhood

Residents of a neighborhood in Indio say there's a couple of grinches on the loose. Decorations meant to lift their Christmas spirits are vanishing from their front yards.

"I don't understand why people can do things like that," Zenon Castro, an Indio resident, told our sister station Telemundo 15's Marco Revuelta.

Castro said he was heading to work when he noticed his daughter's inflatable penguin and his son's Santa sign were no longer in his front yard. He said the decorations were a way of boosting his kids' spirits during these difficult times.

"It hurts me when something is taken away from me and my family," Castro said.

Six inflatables worth a little over a hundred dollars were taken from Castro's front yard and he might not be the only victim in his neighborhood. Just a couple of houses down the road, two men wearing hoodies were caught on surveillance video running away with decorations.

"I didn't call the police and I didn't think they would make a big deal out of it," Castro said.

Ben Guitron of the Indio Police Department said victims of holiday decor theft need to come forward.

"We want people to know that were here help," Guitron said.

Guitron said that so far this year, the number of Christmas decor thefts reports have been low.

"We need the reports to come in and that way we can increase our patrol or be more vigilant in those areas," Guitron said.

As for Castro, he's thinking twice before spending more money on his yard this Christmas season.

"We can replace them, but how I do know they're not going to come back and take them," Castro said.

Indio Police say you can report Christmas decoration thefts, as well as other crimes in the city, at: https://www.indio.org/your_government/police/online/default.htm