Thieves steal one family's Christmas



MOUNTLAKE TERRACE - In 30 seconds thieves wiped away one family’s Christmas presents.

“I feel like they stole my Christmas,” Brandon Richards said.

Thieves stole the family's Christmas presents from Richards’ hummer as he was wrapping one of the gifts just 20 feet away inside his Mountlake Terrace Tae Kwon Do school.

Crooks stole a dozen gifts for his two kids and wife.

Thieves also grabbed his family’s emergency bag stocked with thousands of dollars worth of essential items.

“They opened up the hatchback and took the bag out of here,” Richards said.

By the time Richards spotted the thieves, they had taken off down the parking lot.

“I was actually holding on to the window about right here as they were gunning it, it was about two seconds of holding onto the window asking them what the hell are you doing,” Richards said.

He says the driver in the brown Honda CRV looked startled.

“His eyes were bugged out, I started yelling out their license plate really loud,” Richards said.

Richards posted that license plate number on social media as well as all the gifts the thieves took hoping to catch the thieves.

“They know they were stealing a family’s Christmas so that’s what was so violating that’s what really bothers me about it,” Richards said.

And his Facebook posts got the attention of another family in Everett.

“These people were bold enough to steal my mom’s vehicle and ruin other people’s day as well,” Derek Salud said.

Turns out the 2014 brown Honda CRV with the license plate AJX5447 belongs to Salud’s mom.

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office confirming thieves stole the Honda from his mom’s Everett home. Salud says his mom is a dispatcher for Washington State Patrol.

“It’s got tinted windows pretty dark tint and it has a roof rack on it,”Salud said.

Another good reason why Richards wants the thieves caught.

“I hope it gets back to those people,” Richards said.

Two different families hurt this holiday season, Richards wonders how many others are out there.

“I wish they were out of the vehicle when I caught them,” Richards said.

Richards says there were at least two men inside the Honda. He got a good look at the driver described as a 19 or 20 year-old white male wearing a yellow sweatshirt and baseball cap.

Mountlake Terrace Police say they are investigating the Christmas gift thefts.