BARNSTABLE, Mass. (WHDH) — When officer Brian Morrison found at the Toys for Tots gifts he had just given a single mother were stolen he stepped up to help replace them.
"It was heartbreaking because I had just left her, she had just picked up the toys from me," Brian Morrison, the officer in charge of Toys for Tots, said.
Police say 49-year-old Janice Tully offered to drive her neighbor, Candida Pina, to pick up the toys at the Barnstable Police Department.
After loading all of the toys into her car though Tully reportedly took off leaving Pina at the station
"She's a very heartless person she sees that I struggle. I’m a single mom; I’ve been out of work for 6 months. I look at her like she's the grinch that stole Christmas," Pina said.
Some of the stolen toys were recovered and Pina was able to work with community members to gather to replace the rest of them.
“Without the community I couldn't do it. The community as a whole came together and that’s the real hero,” Morrison said.
After court Tully’s daughter, Vicki Kendrick, said she couldn’t believe what her mother had done.
"I don't know what's wrong with her. I don't know why she did it she just needs help,” Kendrick said.
Police say Tully still hasn’t told them were all of the toys are.
She was arraigned in court Thursday morning and released on bail.