FLORIDA COMPUTERS STOLEN Front page news - newsjournalonline.com

DELAND -- Roxanne Gibson's six children will not have the Christmas she planned for them thanks to burglars who stole the gifts before she could even wrap them and put them under her Christmas tree.

"The Christmas gifts were in the back room," Gibson said. "I was hiding them from the kids until Christmas Day but they took it all."

A block away on High Street, west of Gibson's Ambrose Street home, Elaine Harris wonders whether she will be able to replace gifts taken from under her tree. The burglars hit her home six days before Gibson's was burglarized. They took everything of value, including her 14-year-old daughter's laptop computer, Harris said.

"Our neighborhood is being terrorized by people who live here and know when we are not at home," she said. "All these break-ins occurred during daylight."

Gibson, 29, works as a home health care provider. Harris, 37, currently does not work. Their homes were burglarized in recent weeks while they were visiting their doctors in Orange City.

Burglars broke into Harris' home Nov. 30 at 9:30 a.m. and Gibson's home Dec. 6 at 10:30 a.m., according to police reports. Burglars stole jewelry,computers, DVD players, a video game console and Nintendo games, police said.

DeLand police Deputy Chief Bill Ridgway said the break-ins are crimes of opportunity but not part of any holiday season burglary wave.

"I have not seen a trend or a specific group specifically targeting homes for Christmas presents," Ridgway said. "There tends to be a spike in (armed) robberies during the holidays but we have not seen that this time around."

The burglary hit Gibson, a single mother, particularly hard. With only eight days before Christmas, her small white, silver and blue yule tree sits empty in a corner of her living room. Her children -- ages 11, 9, 8, 6, 3, and 1 -- lost gifts that took her months to buy, including a Nintendo GameCube for the two boys, Abreium, 11, and Jason, 8.

She left the Ambrose Street home for a doctor's appointment on Dec. 6 at 10:30 a.m. When she returned about four hours later, she found the house "a disaster," she said. Drawers were emptied, bed sheets were pulled off the beds, and sofa cushions were overturned.

"It's sad. People just don't care and just come into your home and take what you work so hard for," Gibson said, as her children played near the Christmas tree.

Throughout the year, Gibson would buy toys she came across that she thought one of her children would like. Getting them one by one would keep the strain off her finances come Christmas season, she thought.

Harris, also a single mom, found a similar sight when she returned to her home from the doctor Nov. 30. All her gifts were gone and her Christmas tree was thrown on the floor.

"They pulled out stuff I forgot I had," she said.

Neighbors near the burglarized homes told Harris they have seen school-aged children, some unfamiliar, wandering the area.

DeLand police would not identify suspects but said they are working to solve the crimes.

"We have very good leads we are following. That's all I can say for now," said DeLand police Lt. Pete Moon.

Gibson hopes she will be able to get some small gifts for her boys and girls, even if they're not what she intended for them to have

"I've prayed about it. I just figure God will open me doors to have a good Christmas," Gibson said.

patricio.balona@news-jrnl.com