A couple of holiday thieves decided to play the role of "Grinch" Wednesday night in Howard County, hitting homes and making off with dozens of packages.
Those packages were returned to their rightful owners by members of the Howard County Police Department Thursday evening.
RELATED: Tips to prevent package theft
It's not what the Puttman family expected when they returned home. They found packages had been taken right off their porch.
"It was really hard. I was pretty upset last night," said Jackie Puttman. "It was mostly Christmas presents. The other one that was really important to the whole family were photo calendars we had made."
The Puttman family home is one of many Howard County homes in which packages were taken. They were recovered when an alert neighbor called police. Sgt. Perry Thorsvik and two other officers arrived in a matter of minutes. Those packages were seized by police and sorted for redelivery by officers.
"We were able to stop a couple Grinches from ruining the holiday," said Thorsvik. "It feels great, I've got to say."
Follow Dakarai Turner on Twitter @Dakarai_Turner and on Facebook
Packages were being delivered to 51 families, police said.
"It's a shame, especially this time of the year with it being Christmas," said Terri Maloney, a woman who said she had a package containing vitamins stolen.
Madeline Puttman, 7, gave a handmade card and cookies to the officer who delivered the packages to her family.
"We appreciate their work all the time and when it touches your life personally, it means even more," said John Puttman.
