By O’Ryan Johnson
The Boston Herald
SOMERVILLE, Mass. — Somerville cops are working hard to save Christmas after they busted a pair of suspected Grinches yesterday and recovered a sleigh load of gifts they say were diverted en route to their designated chimneys.
Police Chief Thomas Pasquarello said after cops noticed an uptick in reports of stolen packages, they put several officers on the case.
‘It came down to very good police work,’ Pasquarello said. ‘We had our plainclothes detectives and narcotics officers following UPS trucks and postal trucks around.’
Then yesterday, Medford police passed on information about a suspicious car that led an eagle-eyed patrolman to stop a car ‘filled to the brim’ with parcels, Pasquarello said. Police said the boxes were marked for delivery to several different addresses.
He said cops arrested Kristen Casey, 26, and Manual Sheehan, 27. Both are charged with receiving stolen property and are scheduled to be arraigned today in Somerville District Court.
Cops said they found more than 100 packages in Sheehan’s Everett Avenue home. The gift pile was so big that cops couldn’t store them in the evidence room and are using a police academy classroom.
Now, Pasquarello said the rush is on to photograph and log all the stolen gifts and get them under their rightful trees before Christmas morning.
‘We’re working to get them back to people in time for the holiday,’ he said.
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