{"id":20715,"date":"2019-12-26T09:24:40","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T16:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=62250"},"modified":"2019-12-26T09:24:40","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T16:24:40","slug":"the-grinch-who-stole-the-christmas-tree-steamboat-police-investigate-theft-at-downtown-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/the-grinch-who-stole-the-christmas-tree-steamboat-police-investigate-theft-at-downtown-park\/","title":{"rendered":"The Grinch who stole the Christmas tree: Steamboat Police investigate theft at downtown park"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Steamboat Springs Police Department officers opened an investigation into the alleged theft of a pine tree from Little Toots Park on Tuesday. The incident appears to have occurred the previous night. Officers believe the culprit or culprits cut down the tree to bring it home for a Christmas decoration. <\/strong>
Shelby Reardon<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS \u2014 It appears a Christmas crime, reminiscent of the Grinch\u2019s infamous heist, has hit Steamboat Springs.<\/p>\n

The Steamboat Springs Police Department is investigating the theft of a mugo pine tree from Little Toots Park in downtown Steamboat. An employee with Parks & Recreation noticed the hacked-away trunk and notified police of the incident around 11 a.m. Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Officer Jason Kasper responded to the scene, beginning an investigation into a crime the likes of which he has never seen in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m assuming it happened last night, \u201d Kasper said, adding the tree was taken \u201clikely for use as a Christmas tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only the upper section of the tree had been chopped and stolen, he said, with pieces of the trunk and branches scattered around its base. The remaining stump, seen on a Facebook post from the Parks & Recreation department, shows multiple hack marks, as if the culprit or culprits used an axe rather than a saw.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know some folks wait \u2019til the last minute to get ready for Christmas, but this is taking it way too far,\u201d Parks & Recreation Director Angela Cosby said in a news release. \u201cCutting down a tree in one of your city parks will definitely land you on the naughty list with Santa and the Steamboat Springs Police.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city planted mugo pines in the park to provide shade, according to Craig Robinson, manager of the city\u2019s parks, open space and trails. The cut-down tree was about 30 years old, he said, meaning it has been in the park about as long as the nearby playground. <\/p>\n

Robinson described the mugo pine, which typically grows in a bushy cluster, as \u201cornamental.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely not traditionally used as a Christmas tree,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday afternoon, Kasper had no suspects or leads in his investigation. He is checking to see if there are any cameras in the area that may offer footage of the park. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be difficult to investigate,\u201d Kasper said.<\/p>\n

He said such a crime would be considered criminal mischief, carrying a misdemeanor charge and a monetary fine. <\/p>\n

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to contact the Police Department at 970-879-1144. <\/p>\n

via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steamboat Springs Police Department officers opened an investigation into the alleged theft of a pine tree from Little Toots Park on Tuesday. The incident appears to have occurred the previous night. Officers believe the culprit or culprits cut down the tree to bring it home for a Christmas decoration. Shelby Reardon STEAMBOAT SPRINGS \u2014 It appears […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 01:08:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}