--- title: Tiny Ithaca Policeman Arrests Grinch for Stealing Christmas description: Nine-year-old police officer Colin Hayward Toland arrested the Grinch in Ithaca, NY for the crime of stealing Christmas. canonical: https://time.com/4602163/ithaca-police-arrests-grinch/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-14T17:38:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:29.000Z og:title: Watch the Grinch Get Shamed in Court for 'Stealing Christmas' og:description: The crime? For stealing Christmas og:url: https://time.com/4602163/ithaca-police-arrests-grinch/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch the Grinch Get Shamed in Court for 'Stealing Christmas' twitter:description: The crime? For stealing Christmas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch an Actual Grinch Defend Himself for 'Stealing Christmas' in Court > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 14, 2016 5:38 PM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 14, 2016 5:38 PM UTC An earnest young police officer in [Ithaca, New York](http://time.com/4110652/ithaca-college-student-protests/), bravely captured [the holiday season’s biggest curmudgeon, the Grinch](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/01/15/the-grinch-returns-in-2017/). Officer Colin Hayward Toland, [a 9-year-old honorary member of the Ithaca police force who’s battled brain cancer for most of his life](http://abcnews.go.com/US/year-battling-brain-cancer-sworn-upstate-york-police/story?id=42091396), arrested the Grinch on Tuesday for the crime of “stealing Christmas.” In a Facebook Live video posted by Ithaca’s mayor, Svante Myrick, Toland appeared in court alongside the Grinch, where the judge shared witness accounts from “Whoville” residents who complained about thefts of “pop guns and bicycles, roller skates, drums! Checkerboards, tricycles, popcorn and plums.” Toland testified that the Grinch really does “stink,” while the defendant in question pleaded not guilty, with his legal counsel urging that the judge consider a petition that rhymed like the Dr. Seuss classic, “allow him time for his heart to enlarge. He took this fall because his heart is simply two sizes too small.” Eventually, the Grinch was let off with probation, thanks to Officer Toland’s kind intervention; as a part of his plea bargain, the Grinch was invited to spend Christmas with the young police officer and his family. Myrick approved of the sentence, calling it “restorative justice.” Watch the full clip below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4602163/ithaca-police-arrests-grinch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4602163/ithaca-police-arrests-grinch/"},"headline":"Watch an Actual Grinch Defend Himself for 'Stealing Christmas' in Court","datePublished":"2016-12-14T17:38:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:29.000Z","description":"Your heart might just grow three sizes after seeing this","url":"https://time.com/4602163/ithaca-police-arrests-grinch/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4602163/ithaca-police-arrests-grinch/","name":"Watch an Actual Grinch Defend Himself for 'Stealing Christmas' in Court"}}]}] ```