HollyMatkinByram, MS – Although the Grinch may have thought his plan to steal Christmas was rock-solid, the thief was no match for an observant 5-year-old Mississippi boy, who provided investigators with enough information to arrest him.
The Grinch was apprehended on Monday, the Clarion Ledger reported.
With Christmas quickly approaching, detective-in-training TyLon Pittman, 5, decided something needed to be done – so he called 911 on Saturday night to report the Grinch’s impending crime.
“Our dispatcher posted a status on Facebook that she had received a call from a little boy … and he told her he thought the Grinch was going to be coming to steal his Christmas,” Byram Police Officer Lauren Develle told the Clarion Ledger. “I asked her to send me his address.”
Pittman’s family was surprised to see Officer Develle at their front door late at night, but the no-nonsense little boy got right down to business.
He turned over YouTube recordings that proved the Grinch had committed multiple burglaries, and showed that the green man confessed that he planned to steal Christmas altogether.
His brother, Air Force veteran TeDera Graves, made a cell phone video of Pittman’s conversation with Officer Develle.
“You thought the Grinch was going to steal your Christmas, for real?” Pittman’s mother asked him, still shocked to find out that her son called 911.
“He steals everybody’s Christmas,” the boy said matter-of-factly.
After Pittman debriefed Officer Develle about the thief’s intentions, the officer assured the little boy that she would not allow the Grinch to steal his Christmas.
But Pittman developed a backup plan – just in case.
“If I wake up and I see he’s stealing the Christmas, I’m gonna take him down and I’m gonna arrest him, for the police to come and take him to jail,” said the boy, who plans to be a police officer when he grows up.
“I’m going to say put your hands behind your back and get down on the ground,” he continued. “Then, when he gets on the ground, I’m gonna say, ‘Why are you stealing Christmas?'”
Officer Develle used Pittman’s intel to track the Grinch down, and on Monday, she and Honorary Junior Officer Pittman escorted him to jail.
“Come here Ty,” the Grinch said, as he shook Officer Pittman’s hand. “You have saved Christmas for the people of Byram. Your bravery is unmatched. You have saved the day.”
But Officer Pittman wasn’t about to let the green crook off that easily.
“Why are you stealing Christmas?” he asked intently.
But the Grinch only shrugged.
The Byram Police Department has already begun recruiting the young sleuth.
“When you turn 21, come back and I’m going to give you a job application, OK?” Chief Luke Thomspon said as he presented Officer Pittman with a Grinch toy.
“For them to go this far and have this happen, when he wants to be a police officer, it means a lot,” Graves said. “And it just shows that there are some really good people out there.”
You can watch Pittman’s interaction with Officer Develle in the multiple videos below: