SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Police are looking for the person who took the statue of the Christ Child from a Nativity scene on private property in the borough.
Lori Michael, owner of Lori's Angels, 25 W. Main St., a home health care agency, said the figurine was taken between 4 p.m. Wednesday and 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
"How cruel. How cruel can you be to steal a Baby Jesus and how sad that you would want to steal something so special," said Erin Ketner, marketing coordinator.
"I just couldn't believe someone would have stolen something as religious as that. This is the reason for the Christmas season, not the presents," Michael said.
"How low can degenerates in society go?" Schuylkill Haven police Chief Jeffrey Walcott said.
This is the first year Michael has put up the $3,000 display, which she took down Thursday. It consists of a wooden stable and statues of Mary, Joseph, a shepherd, two sheep as well as the manger and Christ figure, which are separate. The statues are made of a resin-type material.
Michael set the Nativity scene up "about a week after Thanksgiving" and added the infant on Christmas Eve.
A sheep was damaged last week, Ketner said, when one of its ears was broken off. It was later reattached.
The Nativity scene had been displayed beside the agency's building facing the heavily traveled Main Street. Nearby are the Borough Hall and U.S. Post Office.
Undeterred by the theft, Michael said that next year, she will put a fence around the display. She plans to buy a new Baby Jesus.
Michael's husband, John, looked around the neighborhood but did not find the missing statue.
She wasn't optimistic about the statue being returned.
"I really doubt it. It'll be wonderful but I doubt it," she said.
Walcott was unaware of the incident Thursday because he was not the officer who took the report. He did say, however, that in his five years as chief of police, he does not recall anyone stealing a Baby Jesus.
"At first I thought it was maybe a prank call," said Schuylkill Haven police Officer Ken Jacoby of taking the report of the missing statue. "Since someone took it and they didn't just damage it, it's considered a theft."
The value of the Baby Jesus is unknown, he said.
"It's kind of disturbing that someone would take a Baby Jesus from a Nativity," he said.
Anyone with information about the missing statue is asked to call Lori's Angels at 570-385-8450 or the Schuylkill Haven police department at 570-385-9111.
