Crime Blotter: 'Police Stole My Roadkill!'

— -- Battle Over Bullwinkle

ACTON, Maine — Lisa Pierce says police gave away her moose.

Pierce totaled her 1991 Dodge Dynasty when she accidentally struck the animal while driving her children and a neighbor's son to school a month ago. When York County Sheriff's Deputies rushed to the scene and offered first aid, they agreed to let a nearby resident remove the animal from the road, police said.

"The woman gets into a car accident involving a moose," explained Lt. Gary Fecteau. "She's injured; she's being tended to … The moose is severely injured in the middle of the road.

"A gentleman comes by and says, Geez, I can get it out of the way if you want."

Because police were busy tending to Pierce, they agreed, Fecteau said.

Pierce insists state law gives her first dibs on any big-game animal struck by her vehicle, and that deputies should have checked with her before giving it away.

"I think the deputy thought he was doing me a favor," she told the Portland Press-Herald. "I'm a woman and he just neglected to think that I would want it. The moose is gone, I know that now. I want to be compensated for the meat."

The Sheriff's Department says they were rightly concerned with treating Pierce, not asking her about the carcass.

"She was in no condition to be making arrangements," Fecteau insisted.

Police offered to give Pierce the next moose struck by a car in the county, but that has not satisfied Pierce. The man who hauled the carcass away offered to sell it to her for the cost of retrieving the animal. After he butchered the moose, he also wanted to charge her for the cost of removing the 450 pounds of meat. Pierce wanted the Sheriff's Department to pay, but officials refused.

"She was insistent that we get the moose back for her," Fecteau said. "She said, 'I want this one.'"

"We said, 'Fine. End of conversation,'" he continued. "What can we do?"

You Snooze, You Lose

N E W M A R S H F I E L D, Ohio — It apparently didn't take long for Jeremy Graber to tire of the life of crime.

Graber, 19, was found sound asleep in the home he broke into last Sunday night, police said.

The home owner, Matthew Rose was in bed upstairs when he heard what sounded like an intruder during the early hours of Dec. 1.

"He went down stairs and found this Graber curled up asleep in a bed," said Teresa Kirkendall of the Athens County Sheriff's Department.

Rose promptly called authorities, who came and woke Graber up and then arrested him.

Once awake, Graber was very cooperative with sheriff's deputies, Kirkendall said. He appeared to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and had bruises and scrapes on his face, she added. He did not wake up until after he was handcuffed.

The suspect was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

Police charged him with fourth-degree felony burglary, but Kirkendall said that might be reviewed because Graber apparently did not actually take anything from the home.

"I think he must have just been out and thought he needed a place to sleep," Kirkendall said.

Santa Claus May Not Be Coming to Town

M E S I C K , Mich. — Keep an eye out for a dancing jolly fat man with a white beard and a red-and-white suit who sings "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

That's right, Santa's missing.

Santa — well, a 7-foot-tall statue of him outside the Red Barn crafts store — was last seen last Tuesday, Nov. 26. He had been greeting shoppers for several days by dancing and singing carols.

Store owner Cheryl Harder thinks the Grinch must have had help in carting off St. Nick.

"I think [the people who stole the Santa] would have had to load him into a truck," Harder told the Cadillac News. "It probably would have taken two people. There were tire tracks and I found beer bottle caps by the sidewalk."

Harder offered a $100 reward for the return of the Yuletide fixture, and she has put another Santa on display in the meantime. But the theft has dampened her holiday spirit she admitted.

"I got him because I thought he was cool. I really liked him," Harder said.

Crime Blotter, a weekly feature of ABCNEWS.com, is compiled by Oliver Libaw.