Thieves steal Christmas

By Bridget Brady
A CRANBOURNE man says residents should be wary of thieves who may be pretending to cruise the streets looking at Christmas lights.
Gill and Linda Ross had a couple of hundred dollars worth of goods stolen from their front yard last week, and Mr Ross said some opportunistic people might use the festive season to their advantage.
Mr Ross said there were Christmas lights on display in their neighbourhood at the Hunt Club estate, but they did not have any decorations up.
“It’s just annoying. We’ve got nice things happening and these grubs go around and are using it as an opportunity to steal,” Mr Ross said.
The theft of their items, which included outdoor chairs, ornaments, a garden hose and a ceramic giraffe, left a sour taste in his mouth in the lead-up to Christmas, Mr Ross said.
“The main thing is to make people more aware and vigilant that some of them have an ulterior motive.”
Mr Ross said he believed a vehicle would have been needed to take the ceramic giraffe away, as it weighed about 10-15kg.
“I’d like to make sure people would be more vigilant about people who are cruising the streets to make sure they keep an eye on them.”
Mr Ross said he would make a report to police about the stolen items.