Grinch has second thoughts after stealing family's Christmas lights
After stealing lights off a Staten Island family’s lawn in the middle of the night, the thief decided to return the decorations along with a letter of apology after being caught in the act by security cameras, reports the Gothamist.
The footage shows a man emerge from a parked car. He strolls onto the lawn and after making sure there were no eyes on him, he unplugs and grabs three LED projection lights and takes off.
Retired police lieutenant Michael Reilly re-posted the video on his Facebook page. The video was shared over 2,000 times.
But the thief must have caught a glimpse of his Grinchy behaviour and decided to return the stolen lights along with a note apologizing for the theft.
“Hello,” the hand written note begins. “I wanna humbly apologize for stealing your lights.”
The thief writes that seeing himself on film caused a realization that his actions were heinous and insists that he is not the kind of person who would steal from others.
“I was not thinking when I did it. I hope you have a nice holiday,” he writes. “This was the first and last time I will ever do this.”
Its a Christmas miracle fueled by social media shaming.
