CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITYS NEWS) — It happened in the blink of an eye. Someone wearing a sport coat with a shirt or towel over his head took off with two nutcrackers from a home in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“At first I was assuming it was going to be teenagers or something being silly and pulling a prank,” said homeowner Cassie Albergotti.
At the end of her doorbell video, you can see a man get in a car and drive away. Albergotti says this person knew exactly what they were doing.
What they perhaps didn't know is how these Christmas decorations were sentimental to her family.
“I don't know what drew them to take them,” she said. “They were a gift from my parents when we first bought our house. So personally, they were just kind of special to me.”
The nutcrackers were the perfect touch to her Christmas décor. They were wooden, colorful and nearly 4 feet tall.
Every year, "Grinches" steal wreaths, lights, trees and nutcrackers, which leaves homeowners wondering if it's done out of spite, if thieves steal them to decorate their own homes or if the items are put up for sale.
Albergotti says this theft happened while the family was asleep, and she's not the only one in the neighborhood who has woken up to a diminished display.
“I don't know what really can be done,” she said. “It's just really disappointing, because Christmas is just a special time of year, and people are decorating their houses, and it's so nice and it's just really disappointing that someone is having to stoop to this level.”
Albergotti says she filed a police report.