Arkansas grandmother kidnaps baby Jesus

Sunday, December 4, 2005

EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. -- A 70-year-old grandmother was caught stealing the baby Jesus from the city of Eureka Springs' nativity scene, police said. A carriage driver tipped off police, who quickly caught up with her van after she took the statue. Virginia Voiers was ticketed for misdemeanor theft, which carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. "It was a lark, it wasn't any serious stealing," Voiers said. "My granddaughter commented that no one had taken the baby Jesus this year and said, 'Grandma?' I said, 'Oh, what the heck."' Voiers, a Sunday school teacher, said she told her pastor what happened. "He said, 'Bless you, child. Go and sin no more,"' she said, adding that he asked, "'You didn't tell them you are a Methodist, did you?"'

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