Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
DRAPER — Family members were hoping that someone would be able to help them find and recover a green Sinclair dinosaur stolen from their front yard late Friday night.
Robert Gonda said that his home surveillance camera failed to capture the thieves, but based on images snapped at an interval it appeared the heist occurred in just a few minutes at the home located on Aintree Avenue.
"It was there one second and then gone the next," Gonda said. "Somewhere in a 3-minute span it just disappeared."
Gonda said the green dinosaur weighed close to 200 pounds, so it wouldn't have been easy for a single thief to carry it away.
His 15-year-old daughter, Shaylee, had given it to him as a birthday gift in November.
"I always wanted one since I was a kid," Gonda said. "For Christmas we thought it'd be neat to bring it out front, decorate it kind of like the Sinclair gas stations do."
The teenager said she had saved up for quite some time to surprise her father with the gift.
"I worked so hard for it and to have it gone — I was just so upset," Shaylee Gonda said. "It took me almost a year to save up that money — birthday, Christmas, most of my savings."
I worked so hard for it and to have it gone — I was just so upset.
–Shaylee Gonda
As a result, the dinosaur carried deep sentimental value.
"It's something I've always wanted," the father said. "It's special for me that she purchased it for me and it was special for her to give it to me."
Gonda said the family reported the theft to Draper Police, but they primarily just wanted the dinosaur back and hoped the thieves might reconsider and return it.
"It's heartbreaking to me," Shaylee Gonda said.
