Somehow, even though it's the time of good cheer I keep coming across these downer news items.

A woman is in jail here in Las Vegas for stealing $28,000 worth of toys and gift cards purchased with funds raised by the local firefighters.

For a couple of years, at least, she posed as being in charge of a non-profit agency and applied for the gifts and gift cards she claimed she would hand out to deserving children. People got suspicious when someone reported she was selling brand-new toys out of her house for $100 a bag. She gave some the gift cards to friends and relatives to use, the rest she used for herself.

Making a long story short, here's how they caught her:


On Dec. 8, undercover detectives, with the help of the Burn Foundation, provided Lopez with bags of toys, $10 gift cards and a bicycle and kept her under surveillance, the arrest report said.

Over the next few days, the report said, detectives observed Lopez buying personal items, such as shoes, sweaters and underwear at two different Walmarts with the gift cards they believed they had given her.

Detectives provided Lopez with more bags of toys and gift cards from the foundation on Dec. 14, and again watched her buy personal items at the Walmarts.

Among the items she purchased with gift cards were groceries, a Christmas tree and a car battery, the arrest report said.

Police estimated that they had given Lopez roughly $1,500 worth of toys and gift cards during the undercover sting.

Lopez held a Christmas party on Dec. 18, but did not give out any toys, as she had promised Burn Foundation officials, to some 30 children on hand, the arrest report said.

Detectives did not observe any children leaving the party with toys, and one child at the party was seen crying because there were no toys.

"This operation points to the fact that Lopez does not have any intention to hand out toys to needy children, and she received the toys for her own personal gain," the report alleges.

During a raid at Lopez's house Monday morning, police found five bags of toys, the bicycle and several gift cards they had given her on Dec. 8.

Police also saw the Christmas tree she had purchased from Walmart on Dec. 14, and it appeared to be decorated with other items she had purchased that day, the arrest report said.

Lopez admitted that she was not a licensed teen counselor and that The House of Teens of Nevada had never received IRS approval as a nonprofit organization, the report noted.

Police said they found Lopez to be evasive and "deceitful," as they interviewed her before taking her into custody."

See that part in bold text? What a lot of nerve to have 30 kids to her house for a Christmas party and not give them a single gift to take home.