'Grinch' Hands Out 208 Tickets To Orange County Speeders

POSTED: 12:43 pm EST December 14, 2006
UPDATED: 6:18 pm EST December 14, 2006

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- First he stole Christmas, now the Grinch has a new way to take away Christmas spirit. He's handing out traffic tickets, and forget the Whos down in Whoville. Drivers in Orange County aren't too pleased.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office said it's a great idea, but some drivers say it's not much of a holiday gift.

According to Dr. Seuss, the Grinch lived on snowy Mount Crumpit. But Thursday’s Grinch was stalking John Young Parkway with a radar gun.

"Speed limit is 45 and it gets up to 65 or 70. We've caught one at 100 miles an hour on a previous day," said 'Grinch' Deputy Marcus Robinson, Orange County Sheriff's Office.

The sheriff's office has a posse of deputies to write the tickets. They organized a similar patrol a week ago, when one of Santa's helpers ran the radar.

"It was a great success last week. Brought a lot of discussion and so the folks in the motor unit said, 'What can we do to continue with it?'" said Chief Deputy Brad Margeson.

One deputy had a friend who is a makeup artist and the Grinch became Deputy Grinch.

Thursday morning, deputies handed out 208 tickets in under two and a half hours.