MERRILLVILLE, Ind.-
Instead of impressing “Honey Bunny” on Christmas morning with a 42-inch plasma television, “Big Papa” is facing a charge of theft.
Richard Perez, 43, of Lake Station, was charged Monday with stealing the TV and a Sleep Number bedding system from a hotel where he worked as a security officer.
Security video showed Perez walking into a room at the Radisson Hotel on Nov. 29 with an empty luggage cart, then leaving minutes later with a full cart covered with cloth, Merrillville police Detective Donald Toth said.
Police said they searched Perez’s Lake Station home Friday and found the Sleep Number system installed on Perez’s bed and the TV underneath the tree, wrapped in green, Santa-themed paper.
The attached card was addressed to “Mom, Honey Bunny from Big Papa, Daddy,” Toth said.
“I’m not sure if he’s the Grinch or I’m the Grinch because I’m the one who took the items back,” Toth said.
Perez, who has been fired from his hotel job, was released Monday after posting a $10,000 surety bond. The Associated Press left a message seeking comment Tuesday for an R. Perez in Lake Station.
