Crime & Safety
Driver Allegedly Dashes With Children's Toys Christmas Eve
The Hyannis woman will be arraigned on Thursday.
A Hyannis woman who offered to pick-up donated toys for neighboring children on Christmas Eve allegedly dashed away with the gifts and now faces a charge of felony larceny.
Janice Tully, 49, will be arraigned in Barnstable District Court on Thursday, Dec. 26.
On Christmas Eve at approximately 9:15 p.m. Barnstable police were dispatched to Hinckley Road in Hyannis where they were met by two people reporting a theft, police said.
The victims said their neighbor Janice Tully gave them a ride earlier in the day to the Barnstable Police Department and the Independence House to receive donated toys for their five children, police said.
The toys were donated through the USMC Toys For Tots Foundation program.
"After filling her trunk with approximately $500 worth of toys, Tully abruptly left the Independence House without the two victims and told them she would drop the toys off to them later," police stated. "They were both stranded and had to take a taxi home."
Hours later Tully returned home and was confronted by the two victims, police said.
She told them that the toys were gone and gave several versions of where they went before going into her home, police said.
Barnstable Police Officer Troy Perry investigated the incident, and a small portion of the stolen toys were located in the trunk of Tully’s car, police said.
Tully refused to give police the location of the majority of the stolen toys, police said. As of mid-afternoon Wednesday, Tully was being held in a Barnstable Police Department holding cell, police said.
Officer Brian Morrison, the Barnstable Police liaison to the USMC Toys for Tots Foundation, selected new donated toys for the five children on Christmas Eve.
Officer Perry then delivered the new toys to the two families at their residence just prior to midnight in time for Christmas.
Tully was placed under arrest and charged with felony larceny of property over $250. She was booked at the Barnstable Police Station and held on $200 bail.
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