POLK COUNTY, Ga. — A compassionate deputy came to the rescue after a thief stole a young girl’s dollhouse.
The girl does not have the stolen items back, but she did get a special delivery.
Jade Johnson, 4, is full of life and loves her LOL dolls.
In January, a thief stole her toys.
Her mother, Chandra Johnson, was devastated.
It happened on the same day they attended a loved one’s funeral.
“We were at a funeral home, at a wake,” Johnson said. “I looked across the room and i said, ‘She’s talking to the police.’”
The “police” was actually Polk County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Gilham.
“She told me someone had just stolen all of her LOL dolls and if I could find them, if I would bring them back to her,” Gilham said.
Gilham told Channel 2’s Chris Jose it weighed on him for days.
“You know, when I looked at her, I saw my kids,” Gilham said.
The deputy bought a LOL dollhouse set and a carload of other toys.
About a week later, he surprised Jade at her grandmother’s house.
“It’s like a kid on Christmas morning, you just got to stand back, take pictures and hope you get a few good ones."
They did get a few good pictures and warmed the mother’s heart.
“That just showed the goodness and what kind of person he is,” Johnson said.
A deputy, husband and father, and to Jade: a hero.
Gilham paid for the toys himself because he says it was the right thing to do.
For his good deed, the sheriff nominated Gilham for a big award: Law Enforcement Officer of the Year in Polk County.
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