In the eastern suburbs of San Jose, officers from Fuerza Publica (the national police force of Costa Rica) rescued a snowman that had been illegally taken from a second floor balcony. The incident occurred past the midnight hour of Friday, and it unfolded in the residential community of Los Olimpos, located in the Purral district of the Goicochea canton.

According to official press release CP-2123-2015, issued by the Ministry of Public Security yesterday, Fuerza Publica officers from the Purral precinct responded to a call of a Grinch-like robbery in progress. A resident of Los Olimpos heard strange noises coming from the roof of his two-level home; as he stepped outside to take a look, he was astounded to learn that his most prominent Christmas decoration had vanished from the balcony.

The homeowner contacted the local precinct; two officers were dispatch in a municipal utility pick-up truck to the scene. After establishing a perimeter and making a few rounds, the officers noticed a suspect in the distance, struggling to drag the nearly life-sized snowman across an empty lot contiguous to Los Olimpos.

As the officers stepped out of their patrol vehicle to approach the suspect, he took off like a reindeer into the night, leaving the abducted snowman behind. The officers decided not to give chase and proceeded to rescue the snowman, which was crudely abandoned and left on its side. This elaborate Christmas decoration was stuffed with inert material that made it heavy and cumbersome to handle, which may explain why the suspect had such a hard time carrying out his nefarious plot.

The snowman was loaded onto the back of the utility vehicle and eventually returned to the balcony whence it was rudely extracted from.