Mountain Home teens face charges for Grinch-y crime spree

A home surveillance video and glitter in the back seat of a car helped crack the case in which teenagers reportedly targeted at least 46 light-bedecked Mountain Home residences this week, police said.

The primary targets were projectors that shine holiday lights on homes, but other seasonal decorations also were taken or vandalized, Mountain Home Officer Melanie Broughton said. About 90 percent of the items reported stolen have been recovered, she said.

“We are looking at charging the suspects with grand theft and malicious injury to property,” Broughton said Friday, describing the suspects as four boys and one girl, all high school students.

The crimes happened overnight Monday, and on Tuesday one victim provided surveillance video showing a white Honda and juvenile suspects at the crime scene, she said. School Resource Officer Natalie Rogers found the Honda in the high school parking lot, spotted the glitter and located the teens who had been caught on video. One young suspect confessed and told Rogers where the stolen Christmas lights were, Broughton said.

Police can’t release surveillance images of the crimes because the people shown in the video are juveniles, she said. But police did release images of some of the recovered property.

This story was originally published December 16, 2016 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Mountain Home teens face charges for Grinch-y crime spree."