Burglar Shatters ‘Santa’s’ Window, but Not His Spirit : Crime: St. Nick look-alike says theft of VCR won’t stop him from decorating his home to bring cheer to neighbors.

Four weeks before Christmas, a sign went up in Roger Freeman’s front yard proclaiming, “Santa stops here.” But Sunday afternoon, a brazen burglar came calling instead.

While the white-bearded Freeman was doubling as jolly ol’ St. Nick at a Chino flea market, someone broke out the front window of his home and made off with a VCR.

The thief, who remained at large Monday night, apparently was not deterred by the seven-foot-tall tumbleweed snowman standing guard outside the elaborately decorated home or the reindeer and sleigh parked on the roof.

“It is just so disappointing,” said Jo Freeman, 48, wife of the Santa look-alike. “If Santa Claus can get robbed, we all really need to be careful.”

Freeman, 49, whose waistline resembles the requisite bowl full of jelly, has been decorating his house for the holidays annually since moving to the neighborhood 15 years ago. This weekend, however, his spirits took a tumble when he returned home to find his living room window shattered.

“Not even Santa is immune to this kind of thing,” said Freeman, a senior coordinator at McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach. “The brand new VCR was a Christmas present to ourselves.”

Even with hundreds of lights twinkling outside--making the Freeman home by far the brightest address on South Maxine Street--the thief was able to work undetected.

“Whoever it was could not be seen from the street because of the (other) Christmas decorations,” Freeman said. “With the decorations up there, it is the perfect place to hide.”

By Monday afternoon the window was repaired, and the Freemans’ holiday cheer was beginning to return. Both vowed that the burglary would not discourage their decorating tradition in coming years.

“We do it for the neighbors to pick up their spirits,” Jo Freeman said.

The Freemans begin placing their Christmas decorations just after removing their annual Halloween graveyard scene. “Every year it becomes more and more (elaborate), and we have to use bigger power extension cords.”

According to the police report, the thief may have escaped through the back door before the Freemans returned Sunday.

Police said that although residential burglaries do not generally increase during the holidays, people still should be careful.

Maureen Haacker, Santa Ana Police Department spokeswoman, said that police do usually notice an upswing in the number of auto burglaries during the holiday season because shoppers are more likely to leave packages inside their cars.