Federal Way Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit nabbed a Christmas tree thief on Friday afternoon.

“Our Special Investigations Unit arrested a guy that’s on Santa’s naughty list,” Federal Way police wrote on Twitter Friday evening.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, an unidentified suspect stole 78 Fraser fir Christmas trees from the Snowshoe Evergreen Christmas Tree Farm between Saturday night, Dec. 7 and Monday morning, Dec. 9.

The stolen trees totaled more than $6,000.

At about 1:30 p.m. on Friday, a Federal Way detective made a traffic stop on a stolen truck, stated Cmdr. Kurt Schwan of Federal Way police.

The vehicle pulled into a make-shift Christmas tree lot near the 28800 block of Pacific Highway S., Schwan noted. The 54-year-old driver was then arrested for being in possession of the stolen truck and had multiple warrants.

The man arrested by FWPD, whose name has not yet been released, had stolen a truck, a cargo trailer and a fifth-wheel trailer, along with Christmas trees from the Snowshoe Evergreen Tree Farm, located near Puyallup.

“It appears the suspect was selling the stolen trees at the make-shift tree lot where he was stopped,” Schwan told the Mirror.

Of the stolen Christmas trees, 55 trees were recovered, Schwan stated, also noting that detectives from the Puget Sound Auto Theft Taskforce (PSATT) responded and assisted with this investigation.

The man was booked into SCORE jail Friday evening.

The Mirror will update this story when more information becomes available.

Photo courtesy of FWPD Photo courtesy of FWPD