By The Associated Press


ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) -- A western Pennsylvania couple almost had to explain to their seven children that Santa Claus would be late on Christmas because their car - with gifts in the trunk - had been impounded.

Police in Altoona, about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh, seized Shonda and George Beck-Weatherwalk's car last week because a family friend apparently used it in a series of burglaries, the latest on Thursday, authorities said.

Deputy police Chief Mitchell Cooper said the department needed to impound the car so people could identify their stolen property.

After two days of worry, police returned the car and the gifts to the couple.

"It was my main goal to get the gifts back," said Shonda Beck-Weatherwalk. "They could have kept the car if they needed it for their investigation."

"Christmas will be a lot better than it could have been," she said.

Am i missing something here? just why would they need the car?  Unless there was stolen property still in it? And since there were presents in the trunk, i kinda doubt that.  Sounds a lot like "We're the ATF and we're here to take your guns away so that a criminal doesn't hurt you..."

to quote the famous Chinese detective, Charlie Chan, "There's a lot of fu(king mysteries around here....."

No sympathy!!

I’m with the Cops on this one.

You catch a guy burglarizing homes while driving a car full of Christmas presents.  Makes sense you’d want to know if the presents were stolen.

The idiots who lent the guy the car are lucky they got anything back!

So if you loaned a guy a shotgun for deer season and he used it to rob a Kwik E Mart maybe you oughta have all of your guns taken out of your house and held by the police for a little while to be sure none of them were stolen?  Even that little Chipmunk .22 you bought for your daughter for Christmas? [>:/]

Devil advocate time:

If they got the fucking shit back a week ago, didn't really delay their opening Christmas presents.....

Scott

Wouldn't be the first time stolen goods have been found wrapped up as gifts for some cranker's family.  Guess the moral of the story is be careful who you loan your damn car to.

Exactly! These people have obviously never heard of "forfeiture". Tehy should be glad they got anything back.....


Scott

I have relatives in Altoona.

Oops, my relatives are in Altoona Wisconsin.