Prince George's County police officers replace family's stolen Christmas decorations

CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - One week after a couple had their Christmas decorations torn down and stolen from their front yard, Prince George's County police came to their aid to help restore their Christmas spirit.

On Wednesday evening, two officers came to the Capitol Heights home of David and Vanessa Surles with boxes of new holiday decorations. Ironically, the Surles were at Home Depot trying to pick up replacement decorations when they saw the officers arriving at their front porch through their Ring doorbell camera.

When learning that the couple was at Home Depot, one of the officers told them through their camera, "Well, put those decorations down. You don't need any. We got plenty here."

When David and Vanessa returned home, they found several blowup Christmas decorations of Santa, snowmen, penguins and other characters shining brightly on their lawn. David was overjoyed and very grateful to the officers, and posted video of the scene on social media.

"God bless all of you all," David said. "You touched us and our family tremendously. So I love you. I love you. God bless all of you and Merry Christmas."

It has been a difficult year for the Surles family. Their 3-year-old granddaughter Londyn passed away back in January following a battle with neuroblastoma. The loss of their Christmas decorations to the thieves was rough because it was something Londyn's siblings could look forward to during this holiday season.

"Our neighbors were calling on the phone trying to warn us that people were in our yard after the other night," David told FOX 5. "It just so happened that these guys weren't taking anything. They were bringing a blessing. Not only for us, but for our neighborhood, for our grandkids and we had so many passersby … just slow down to look at the new decorations, and they said they were with us."

"We have learned and can confirm that the two secret Santa(s) were Prince George's County police officers," Prince George's County police spokesperson Jennifer Donelan said in a statement. "They did this out of the goodness of their hearts, so we will respect their wishes to remain anonymous. We won't tell the world who they are, but we will tell the world how proud we are of them and of their huge hearts! Our prayers are with the family and we wish them and the rest of our community...Happy Holidays!!"