By Carlie Masterson, Staff Writer
’Tis the season for spreading love and cheer… and also for some psycho Santas to board their sleighs? Here is a synopsis of five crimes where Santa proved to be quite naughty:
- Santa’s Ho-Ho-Holdup
In 2009, a man dressed as Santa with dark sunglasses entered a Sun Trust bank in Nashville, Tennessee. Customers and employees alike thought they might be in for surprise presents. When Santa got to the teller, however, he whipped a gun out of his sack, demanding money so that he could “pay his elves.”[1]
Santa proceeded to fill his sack with an undisclosed sum of money and fled the scene in his getaway car. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but Santa’s sinister demeanor certainly disturbed witnesses to the armed robbery.[1]
- Santa Massacre
On Christmas Eve of 2008 in Covina, California, a man dressed as Santa, later identified as Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, walked up to his ex-wife’s parent’s house during their annual holiday party.[2] Investigators indicated that according to divorce records, Pardo was recently ordered to pay his ex-wife large sums of money.[3] When he got to the door, an 8-year-old girl ecstatically ran over to him.[2] Pardo, with a wrapped present in one hand, and a gun in the other, raised the gun and shot the child in the face. He then proceeded to shoot wildly into the home, eventually killing eight more and injuring others — one of whom jumped out of a second-story window.[2]
Pardo apparently had a plane ticket purchased and a getaway strategy, but his plan went awry when he proceeded to spray a flammable liquid to burn the house down.[3] Consequently, his firearm exploded and burned his Santa suit onto his body. Pardo proceeded to take his own life.[3]
- Sloppy Santa
During the annual Seattle Santarchy of 2013, where a mass of people dressed as Santa crowd the streets and bars, one Santa attempted to board a duck-boat tour. The drunken Santa was convinced that all he had to show to board the duck-boat was identification, but the conductors refused to give him a ride without payment.[4]
At first, the Santa refused to exit the duck-boat, but then instantaneously lunged off the side of the vehicle. He scaled down the side, dragging a string of Christmas lights with him. Santa fled the scene but was later apprehended by mall security officers. When police questioned him about the lights he was dragging, he responded that he had slipped on wet pavement and inadvertently pulled them down.[4]
- Santa Snatching
A South Carolinian Santa stopped at a convenient store to refuel his motorcycle in 2006 when he spotted children staring in his direction. Santa, later identified as 55-year-old John Michael Barton, asked the children to come look at a stuffed Rudolph he was holding while the children’s father was inside the convenient store. When the children came near, he grabbed the 8-year-old girl and drove away with her on his motorcycle.[5]
The young girl’s father followed the cyclist Santa, while flashing his headlights and reaching speeds of up to 80 mph. Barton eventually stopped at a church parking lot, where he released the uninjured girl to her father. Barton was later arrested after police learned he had been dressed as Santa for weeks and had given high-speed rides to other local children.[5]
- Sloshed Santa
This last story comes from none other than our Pennsylvania, where one Santa was attempting to spread his good cheer in 2009. After a few too many jugs of the jolly juice, Santa decided to go house-to-house in his little town to ask if anyone wanted a sip of his brew.[6]
Instead of partaking in Santa’s good fortune, however, neighbors responded by calling the cops. When police apprehended Santa, they found him stopping at random houses. He was arrested shortly thereafter for public intoxication.[6]
Sources
[1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1237917/Its-ho-ho-hold-Armed-bank-robber-dressed-Santa-demands-money-pay-elves.html
[2] http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/25/santa.shooting/
[3] http://www.sgvtribune.com/article/ZZ/20081225/NEWS/812259889
[4] http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/12/denied-a-free-ride-drunken-santa-attacks-duck-tour-boat/
[5] http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/12/18/man-dressed-as-santa-claus-kidnapped-8-year-old-girl-cops-say.html
[6] http://www.truecrimereport.com/2009/09/beer_santa_arrested_in_mcconne.php
