Bellingham Police catch alleged package thief, then make like Santa with delivery
Police arrested a woman accused of stealing packages out of a mail truck and then got into the Christmas spirit by delivering some of the purloined property to their owners, according to a Bellingham Police Department post on Facebook.
“While they did not have a sleigh pulled by Rudolph, they did have plenty of red lights on their shiny patrol cars,” the post reads.
Police were called at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22, to the U.S. Post Office at 3150 Orleans St. on a report of “a theft of packages as the postal worker was loading up for deliveries for the day. Evidently a modern day Grinch decided to dampen Christmas for several families by stealing ready-to-deliver packages out of a postal truck,” the post states.
Officer Marcus Subia found the alleged thief in her “distinctive Grinch-mobile” as he was driving to the scene, according to the post, although it didn’t say what made the vehicle stand out.
Stolen packages were found in the vehicle. Some already had been opened and their contents removed. Police returned the ones that were still closed to the post office.
Officer Jeremiah Bussdieker — who, that’s right, grew up in North Pole, Alaska — helped deliver the packages that had been opened and their contents to their owners.
Police arrested 38-year-old Ember Collette Rose McLane in connection with the incident.
She was booked into Whatcom County Jail on suspicion of second-degree burglary and possession of stolen mail, where she remained as of Thursday, Dec. 24.
