PORT ORANGE, Fla. – A burglar is on the loose in Port Orange, wanted for pulling off a bizarre holiday heist.
Police said out of dozens of Christmas decorations at one local business, the only item that thieves took was a decorative Christmas tree.
The business, Hold Fast Tattoo, is on Ridgewood Avenue near Dunlawton in Port Orange. The owner of the shop, Chris Norton, decided to decorate for the first time this year and went all out.
"We were just trying to get in the Christmas spirit around here and them coming along, kind of like the Grinch, just makes it not as fun," said Norton.
The shop was closed Sunday. Norton said when they opened back up Monday and went to turn on the Christmas lights and decorations like they do each night, they noticed something was missing.
"One of the other guys said the tree is gone and we watched the video and realized we had them caught on there," said Norton.
Some of the 11 surveillance cameras around the shop captured a man or a woman unplugging and snatching a white metal tree right out of the yard. They did it slowly, in the middle of the day, and took off in an older model Crown Victoria.
"They drove by a couple minutes earlier and turned around. We rewound to see if they turned back around. They saw it and decided to come back for it," Norton said.
Norton said he invested time and effort into helping people who come to his shop and those who drive by it get into the Christmas spirit. He said a lot of the decorations were donated, so now he's on a quest to find the person he calls the Port Orange Grinch.
"I hope someone recognizes you and you feel humiliated," Norton said.
Norton is offering a $200 gift certificate to his shop to anyone who helps turn the thief in.