Teens arrested for Christmas-related vandalism spree

Two Wauwatosa boys were arrested for vandalism after a Grinch-like spree that included breaking spotlights, slashing an inflatable Santa and moving nativity figures.

According to the Wauwatosa police report:

Police were called after the 14- and 15-year-old Wauwatosa East students threw garbage cans at a passing train in the 7700 block of West State Street at 11:46 p.m. Dec. 19.

When a patrol car arrived, the two boys as well as three friends - two 14-year-old boys and a 14-year-old girl - all took off running. Meanwhile, the two boys were hiding on the roof of St. Bernard's Parish until they could run home. Prior to making a run for it, they had used marijuana.

Two days later, police tracked down the students, who were eventually arrested at Tosa East for vandalism. They estimated they had broken about 20 spotlights in yards near the Village and along Milwaukee Avenue by kicking them or hitting them with a baseball bat.

The teens also pulled bulbs from of Christmas lights, knocking out entire strands, and they hit some plastic ornaments off a tree.

An inflatable Santa was cut and deflated in the 2400 block of Lefeber Avenue while a Mother Mary from a nativity scene was moved to a property a few doors down and the baby Jesus went missing. A holiday Snoopy figure was smashed on 71st Street.

One of the boys' mothers found an 8-inch hunting knife in her son's coat pocket and text messages pinpointing the locations of inflatable decorations around the city and talked about "preparing weed."

All five teens were cited for violating curfew.