Couple accused of stealing $500K worth of Christmas presents

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - A Clayton County couple was arrested last month after authorities said the "two Grinches tried to steal Christmas." 

On Christmas Eve, sheriff's deputies went to a home on Brian Lane in Forest Park to serve a probation violation warrant for Ronald Lee Durden. As deputies arrived at the house, they saw Durden and his girlfriend, Stephanie Ford, unloading Amazon packages from a large white box truck. Investigators said they were unloading at the front door of the home when they arrived. 

Durden, who was taken into custody for his outstanding warrant, couldn't provide an "adequate" answer as to why he was unloading the packages into his house. Investigators contacted Durden's employer and learned they were about to report the white box truck as stolen. 

The Clayton County Sheriff's Office said more stolen items were found in the back of the home as well as at a local storage facility. According to investigators, more than 10,000 individual items had been stolen, with an estimated value of at least $500,000 in Christmas gifts. 

"Christmas gifts that did not make it to their intended destinations in time," the sheriff's office said in a news release Friday. 

Ford was also arrested. Both were taken to the Clayton County Jail, or as Sheriff's Victor Hill calls it, the "Hill-ton." 

Investigators continue to process and photograph the inventory to return to Amazon.