Hoffman Estates police seek holiday vandals

Jeff and Joan Michels don't want sympathy or donations, they just want the vandals who ruined their Christmas decorations to be caught.

And they are impressed with the effort of the Hoffman Estates Police Department to accomplish that.

“They're going from house to house looking for information,” Jeff Michels said Monday.

The couple put a sign in their yard offering an unspecified reward for information about whoever drove across their lawn late Friday or early Saturday, wrecking a manger scene, a Christmas train and a gingerbread house.

Joan Michels estimated the financial damage at $1,500 to $2,000, but it's the sentimental investment that cannot be replaced.

Jeff Michels is leaving the carnage on the lawn for a while to show people what happened, but his wife would like it removed because it breaks her heart to see it. The couple says this has ended their decorating tradition that lasted almost a quarter century.

The police department's investigations division and the tactical squad are working on the case, said police Lt. JC Páez.

“We're pursuing all options, but we have a limited amount to go on,” he said. “We don't want the Scrooges to get away with it.

“It's Christmas with goodwill to all mankind,” said Páez. “Did you not get the news?”