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Grinch swipes Christmas decorations from NYC family’s front yard 3 times in one night

NEW YORK — This was truly Grinch-like behavior.

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Surveillance cameras caught a man stealing Christmas decorations early Tuesday from the front yard of a New York City home three times in one night, authorities said.

“I just couldn’t believe it. Three times?” Vincent Coppola, of Queens, told WCBS.

According to Coppola, the family was sleeping just after midnight Tuesday when a man drove up to their home in the Little Neck neighborhood of the borough, walked across their lawn and a took a Santa Claus decoration, the television station reported.

Surveillance video showed the man returned 10 minutes later to steal a snowman decoration, and then came back an hour later to cut the nutcracker decoration from the family’s front porch, WCBS reported.

“I don’t know what’s going through people’s minds that you’d want to steal someone’s Christmas decorations. Like, what joy does that bring anybody?” Diana Coppola told the television station.

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The Coppolas apparently were the only people whose decorations were taken, family members said.

“We’d like our decorations back,” Diana Coppola said.

While the stolen items probably are not worth more than $200, they were meaningful to a family who enjoys putting up decorations every year.

“They have a lot of memories,” Joanna Coppola, a fifth grader, told WCBS. “Me and my dad have been putting them out for quite a few years, and I feel really sad they’re gone.”