{"id":94413,"date":"2026-01-09T02:11:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/94413\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T02:11:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:11:27","slug":"the-best-gift-of-all-time-staten-island-familys-stolen-christmas-sign-saved-by-city-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/94413\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The best gift of all time\u2019: Staten Island family\u2019s stolen Christmas sign saved by city worker"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A Christmas sign preaching goodwill toward men that was maliciously tossed down a Staten Island storm drain has made its way home, thanks to a vigilant family, a post on SILive.com and a city worker with a knack for sewer rescues.<\/p>\n

The \u201cKeep Christ in Christmas\u201d sign vanished from outside the Oakwood home of Antoinette Mirando on New Year\u2019s Eve. <\/p>\n

Security footage from about 1 p.m. on Dec. 31 shows an individual with gray hair wearing a long green-gray winter coat approaching the residence at the corner of Peter Avenue and Hylan Boulevard, lifting the sign near the front door and walking off toward Hylan Boulevard.<\/p>\n

Mirando\u2019s son, Salvatore, 29, received a doorbell alert and arrived about five minutes later to find the decoration missing. Video from a camera near the entrance captured the theft, including the individual briefly disappearing behind shrubbery after crossing the street.<\/p>\n

He searched the surrounding area and soon discovered where the sign had gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the sewer to look for the metal, and then I looked down and saw the sign and the metal were both in the sewer,\u201d he said. They were lodged inside and he was unable to retrieve them on his own.<\/p>\n

But what began as a disheartening end to the holiday season soon took a positive turn.<\/p>\n

A city Department of Environmental Protection worker arrived at the Mirando about half an hour after an Advance\/SILive.com story about the theft was published online Thursday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ChristmasAntoinette Mirando, of Oakwood, holds up her cherished Christmas sign alongside DEP employee Garret Mosley, “the catch basin cleaning king,” who recovered it from a nearby storm drain.(Courtesy of DEP)<\/p>\n

The worker, Garret Mosley, carefully removed a nearby grate \u2014 maneuvering around a parked car \u2014 and pulled the sign from the drain without damaging it.<\/p>\n

Mosley, a 37-year veteran of the DEP\u2019s Sewer Maintenance Division on Staten Island, is no stranger to unusual recoveries beneath city streets. <\/p>\n

He earned the nickname \u201ccatch basin cleaning king\u201d this past summer after winning the agency\u2019s fourth annual Interborough Catch Basin Mania Cleaning Competition<\/a> at the Queens Repair Training Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Grinch may have swiped the sign and tossed it down the storm drain, but DEP was happy to help out and return the sign, which holds special meaning for its owner,\u201d a DEP spokesperson said in a statement to Advance\/SILive.com.<\/p>\n

For the Mirando family, the recovery meant more than reclaiming a holiday decoration. Salvatore Mirando said the sign was purchased a decade ago by his father, Michael, who died this past May, and had been displayed by him every Christmas. This was family\u2019s first holiday season without him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that was another layer added on top of the heartbreak \u2014 not just someone trespassing on the property, but that, specifically,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The family traditionally keeps its decorations up until the Feast of the Epiphany, \u201cLittle Christmas,\u201d on Jan. 6. But by the day before the sign was recovered on Thursday, the rest had already been taken down. <\/p>\n

Salvatore Mirando recalled telling his mother he couldn\u2019t believe the sign wouldn\u2019t be placed back in the attic, where it is usually stored on top of other boxes for easy access.<\/p>\n

The theft appeared deliberate. A statue of a saint positioned next to the sign was left untouched.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a random act of malicious intent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Antoinette Mirando credited social media and simple kindness for the sign\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really was a testament to the power of social media,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen the DEP guys showed up, they said they had seen it online and really wanted to help. The fact that people just stepped up out of the kindness of their hearts was the best part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her son called getting the sign back \u201cthe best gift of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really do consider him a hero,\u201d Antoinette Mirando said of Mosley. \u201cI just wasn\u2019t expecting it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A Christmas sign preaching goodwill toward men that was maliciously tossed down a Staten…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-94413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}