5 Christmas Crimes

It’s true that stress and eating too much candy increase around the Christmas time… but you know what else goes up? Crime. Shoplifting, burglary and driving under the influence are often noted as crimes that peak around the holiday season. We’ve dug through the depths of the interwebs to find five of the wildest Christmas crimes that made headlines.

Check Out The Podcast

In episode 10 of the Boom Tequila podcast we discuss Christmas Crimes, offer some ways to successfully avoid political debates with family during the holidays and teach you how to make a festive holiday drink recipe, plus some holiday party games that promise not to disappoint.

1. Weed For Christmas

In 2019 a Florida man (go figure) was caught giving away marijuana to random people with the sole reported reasoning of “because it was Christmas.” According to WTHR the Pinellas County police arrested 67 year old Richard Ellis after for his unique gifting choice and charged him with possession and intent to sell.

My favorite part of this crime though?… The article nonchalantly mentions that police found a sword concealed in the man’s cane. Jodi says this is totes normal and all canes have swords hidden in them, but I have never heard of this… (If you know, please comment. I am genuinely curious here.)

2. McDonalds For Christmas Dinner… And Can I Pay In Marijuana?

In 2018 a man in Port St. Lucie (so yeah, another Florida man) went through a McDonald’s drive-thru and tried to pay for his order with a bag of marijuana. KVOA.com reports that after trying to pay with alternative money, the man actually came back to the McDonalds… which is when police arrested him and charged him with a DUI and possession.

3. The Methed Up Christmas Toys

According to CBS Boston, In Buxton, Main in December 2019 a community collected boxes of toys to donate to children, but someone noticed that the items in the playroom were consistent with signs of meth exposure. They discovered that a man had actually been running a meth lab in the church playroom which contaminated all the toys, so for safety they could not be given out to the children in need. This one is actually kind of a downer. Who decides to have a meth lab in a children’s nursery… in a church?!? (I guess a meth head… but for real… don’t do drugs guys.)

4. The Serial Streaker Santa

This time we have a Utah man. The streaking santa exposed himself wearing nothing but a santa hat. Deseret.com reports that this happened multiple times over a four-year period they before they caught the guy. He was exposing himself to teens at parks, hotels, and even committed a sex act from an elevated spot while overlooking a hotel swimming pool.

Police had staged undercover officers in a surveillance operation, but the guy got away before they could identify him. Eventually after on of his exposure incidents, police conducted a traffic stop and found the Santa hat in his jacket… which was how they finally caught him.

5. Faking A Heart Attack For A Barbie Car

According to ABC7 News, two guys went into Walmart and loaded a barbie car – one of those big ones kids can drive – into the cart. Then one guy lays down and pretends to have a heart attack. (Sharing their footage of the whole thing below, because this performance is gold guys.)

While everyone is going over to help the man “having a heart attack” the other guy just casually walks out the door. Then once our performing artist sees his friend is out, he arises for a miraculous recovery.

The police caught these two pretty quickly. At first I kind of felt bad for these guys because it seemed like maybe they were just trying to get a gift for a kid or something (still wrong for sure, but just saying). Anyways, it turns out that at least one of them had just been released from prison for armed robbery.

I really would have expected something a little better from someone with such experience, but not everyone can steal Christmas and get an ending like the Grinch.