Santa Kidnapped and Held for Ransom

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Santa Kidnapped and Held for Food Ransom Dec 19, 11:03 am ET

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian thieves calling themselves Grinch Enterprises kidnapped a Santa Claus figure off an Ontario family's front lawn and are holding the jolly icon for ransom, the owner said on Wednesday.

The group -- who have struck at the same family home before and demanded a similar ransom -- want the owners to collect canned goods for a food bank in return for getting their plywood Santa back before Christmas Day, Evelyn Hussey said. "My reindeers are still there but Santa Claus is gone," Hussey said by telephone from Sarnia, an industrial city about 185 miles southwest of Toronto.

Hussey said she took down the first ransom note for the four-foot tall Santa only to find another one on the lawn.

After removing that one, she got an anonymous telephone call ordering her to leave the notes alone.

The notes contain instructions and include photographs of the missing Santa.

"In the one I just got last night, he's in front of the Sarnia General Hospital, which probably means that he will be injured quite soon if I don't meet their demands," she said.

Hussey said she plans to ask local schools to help collect about 700 cans of food. "I want my Santa back because it looks ugly outside without him. I just want him back."

-- Anonymous, December 20, 2002


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