Christmas Crook Steals Single Mother's Gifts For 10-Year-Old Son

WAUKESHA, WI — A single mother in Waukesha was visited by a Christmas Grinch this week, and stole all of Santa's presents for her 10-year-old son.

Lynette Euclide, 44, of Waukesha, and her 10-year-old son William live in Westgrove Apartments in Waukesha.

On Friday, Euclide took a half-day off work so she could go home to wrap presents for her son. "My son believes in Santa Claus. I bought Christmas presents for him and hid them in the storage locker until I could wrap them," she told Waukesha Patch.

Euclide went to the office that day where she helps administer the Waukesha County Energy Assistance program - a program that helps the less fortunate with their heating costs over the winter.

When she got back home just after noon, she went down to the storage locker and was in disbelief.

Plywood walls obscure the contents of Euclide's storage locker, however, the locker's hollow-core door had been jimmied open with a tool - likely a knife, police said.

The storage room was trashed, she said, and all of the presents meant for her son were gone.

"I was heartbroken. I was in disbelief in that a person was so concerned for themselves that they would ruin a little kid's Christmas," she said. "Being a single mom, it took me awhile to save up for those gifts."

Euclide said her son is into a lot of the contraptions that fellow fourth-graders are into: legos, nerf toys, electronics, junior science and exploration kits ... and of course clothes.

Euclide said Waukesha police were "really nice" and took a report. She said it would be tough to catch this criminal because there were no serial numbers associated with the lost toys. Police said the crook would likely try to return the toys somewhere to recover some cash.

She did what she could to recover. Euclide said she borrowed some money from relatives and took out a Payday loan to cobble enough money together for a few gifts so her son would not go without.

"I try to help people every day for a living, so when something like this happens, it's like a punch in the gut," she said. "It's just one day, but I'm going to feel the effects of this for a long time."

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