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Dec 25, 2007 9:51 pm US/Central
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Van, Christmas Presents Stolen
RIVERDALE, Ill. (CBS) ―
A suburban family is struggling with a Christmas crime after a grinch stole a van full of their gifts.
As CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports, the Riverdale family is not letting that break their holiday spirit.
Their tree was decorated and the stockings were hung. The only thing missing were the gifts, and sadly for all the kids, that's exactly what they woke up to Christmas morning, not because Santa didn't stop by, but because someone stole all their gifts before they could be delivered.
Their parents say it was only a few hundred dollars worth of gifts, which might not seem like much to many people, but to them it was all they had.
"I work everyday trying to do the best I could, you know, feeding them, you know because my money also feeds my children, you know, so it meant a lot to me," Louise Johnson said.
Johnson said after a busy day of Christmas shopping, she and her family members stopped by a Target store to grab a couple of more gifts for the kids, but when they came out, their minivan, and all of the other presents they bought that were inside were gone.
Calumet City police say the stolen minivan is a dark blue, 1995 Oldsmobile Silohuette with the Illinois license plate number 969 5344.
Johnson says while there's no sign of the mini-van or the gifts, her family refuses to let the person who stole them ruin their Christmas too.
"I always teach my children, that it's not... Jesus is the reason for the season. That's why they is happy. That's why I'm happy," she said.
And the 16 children and grandchildren she helps raise found plenty of other reasons to smile, but some admit it was hard sharing only three gifts.
"Them people stole our car and our presents, and now my brother and them ain't got nothing, and them people are probably just playing with they stuff," 12-year-old Tiara Haywood said.
"I just hope they needed it more than we needed it," Kimberly Payton said.
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