Pueblo police save boy’s Christmas after gifts are stolen

Seven-year-old C.J. Madrid was looking forward to Christmas morning. He’d finally be able to play with all of the toys he picked out while shopping with Officer Zachary Ballas during the Pueblo Police Department’s “Heroes and Helpers” event.

C.J. vividly remembers what he picked out while walking through the aisles at Target.

“Big old truck with all kinds of Call of Duty, and Batman shooting stuff,” he recalled.

But last week, a thief broke into the home and left with all of the gifts under the tree.

“I was very angry and sad and just all these emotions were going through me at the time,” said C.J.’s mom, Amanda Madrid.

Making matters worse, Madrid lost her job last week and is sad she can’t give her son the Christmas she said he deserves.

“Those presents — I hope the person who took them at least gives it to someone who’s less fortunate, someone who deserves them,” Madrid said.

Ballas nominated C.J. for the “Heroes and Helpers” event after meeting him while responding to a call.

“While I was talking to him, he wanted to show me his toys — and he was showing me his toys. He only had three or four,” Ballas said.

Ballas even spent more than $100 of his own money while shopping with C.J. at Target. When he learned that the gifts were stolen, he was devastated.

“My first thought — I was just heartbroken. The next thought was he’s going to have toys for Christmas so I basically just talked to a lot of officers at the police department and everyone pitched in and now we went out and pretty much replaced all the toys,” Ballas said.

Officers are delivering the gifts to C.J. Thursday afternoon. Madrid said she’s grateful for the officers’ support.