A Mississippi man with a history of Grinch-like behavior is off the streets for the second Christmas in the last few years after police caught him snatching presents from houses as they were being delivered.
Jason Robert Phillips, 34, was arrested on Thursday morning and charged with five counts of petty larceny. In a press release, investigators described the porch pirate as a "Grinch" and Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell wrote that the Phillips' crimes were all caught on video.
The arrest comes two days after Mississippi resident Heather DeHart posted a video of a man stealing packages from her porch. DeHart wrote "UPS delivered some of the kids' Christmas gifts, as well as a much-anticipated Star Wars bow tie and suspenders for the Christmas program. Our security camera caught him, I zoomed in, but unfortunately no luck on plates … we don't give our kids electronics, so he was probably pretty disappointed with his Advent calendars, kid-sized Star Wars attire, Hot Wheels, board games and my contact solution."
And for the southern Grinch, getting arrested is basically a holiday tradition. In 2015, he was arrested by the same sheriff's department when he snatched Christmas packages from a porch. In that incident, which was reported by the Sun Herald, a resident managed to take down Phillips' license plate number as he was peeling out of the driveway. He was arrested on stolen property charges for that crime and this year, the Sun Herald reports that Phillips was convicted of the charges. However, it seems that he was able to weasel his way out of prison since he had the opportunity to repeat his thefts this year.
In fact, we've seen a lot of Grinchy behavior this year — the nation seems to be suffering from an overall deficiency of Christmas spirit. In Alaska, a middle-aged preacher burst into a holiday store and started bellowing at the children that "Santa Claus isn't real." Meanwhile, a pregnant woman in Georgia has been dinging doorbells before breaking into homes and making off with property. Hopefully, old Saint Nick is taking the names of these coal-deserving Scrooges down for his deliveries.
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