By Anthony Rifilato
At the deli, he overheard a livid employee, who lives a block over on Longfellow Street, telling his co-workers that the Christmas decorations on his front lawn had been stolen.
"I said to myself, What a messed up thing to do," Eusebio said. But sure enough, when he returned home, Eusebio, who has lived in Baldwin for four years and has a two-year-old son, noticed his own barren front lawn. Although his 10 large candles and a suspended Santa and sleigh remained, the elves, tree and moving reindeer were gone.
"All that was left were the pipes that held the tree and decorations in place," Eusebio said.
After he discovered that the fixtures had been stolen, the dismayed Eusebio alerted his neighbors. They, too, hadn't noticed that some of their decorations had disappeared.
"It's just one of those things you take for granted," Eusebio said. "I just hope it doesn't happen to anyone else."
Eusebio and several of his neighbors said they were the victims of Christmas thieves who made off with some very large decorations early on the morning of Dec. 18.
Diane Macguire, who lives across the street, said two custom-made, three-foot wooden moose were stolen from her yard. "Nelson came over and asked if I had anything missing," said Macguire, adding that her neighbors said they didn't witness the thefts.
Macguire said she doesn't expect to recover her irreplaceable moose (she prefers them to reindeer), but said, "I just want people to know what's going on."
Eusebio said he immediately notified the First Precinct, who advised him to file a complaint.
Residents were dismayed at such cruel thievery around the holidays. The majority of Harte Street residents' decorations were large, and they said the culprits must have used a truck or some other large vehicle to cart them away. Eusebio and others said several neighbors on Longfellow also were victims.
One neighbor who lives across the street from Eusebio but wasn't robbed said he was up at 3:30 a.m. last Wednesday and saw all the decorations on Eusebio's lawn in place. He said the theft must have occurred after he went back to sleep.
Eusebio said he is not expecting to recover his decorations, which cost about $200, but said he'll be more cautious in the future when he decorates his home. "I'm still going to do it," he added.
His wife, Samantha, agreed that they won't be deterred by the grinch. "I'm not going to stop [decorating] because someone decided to be a jerk," she said.
