'Santa ban for toddler after grandparents are booted out of mall for taking his picture '

Santa ban for toddler after grandparents are booted out of mall for taking his picture

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:42 PM on 23rd December 2011


Heartless mall cops banned a five-year-old boy from visiting Santa's grotto because his grandparents had broken rules by taking a picture of him.

Don Oberloh and his wife Debbie Cassella were kicked out of University Park Mall in Mishawaka, Indiana, along with their grandson and his mother, for taking pictures at a café.

Mrs Cassella claims they had taken the toddler, who was over from California, to visit Santa and had been enjoying a drink at a cafe when security staff pounced.



Ejected: Don Oberloh and his wife Debbie Cassella were thrown out of an Indiana shopping mall for taking this picture of their five-year-old grandson who they had taken to visit Santa

She told WNDU.com: 'We were just sitting around the table having something to drink, talking about what we were planning and that's when my husband took the picture.'

He recalled: 'I believe she said you can't take pictures at the mall.

'I thought she was joking and I said "I’m taking a picture of my grandson", I’d understand if I was taking pictures of the architecture or the products in the stores and she became a little hostile.'

'I asked to speak with a mall manager and she flashed a badge at me, and I didn't see it, and asked ‘is this good enough?’ and I tried explaining things to her and she came back.'

Mr Oberloh said he apologised but the woman became belligerent at which point he asked to speak to the manager.

Eventually he left the building after being asked by security to leave, but Mrs Cassella stayed to wait for her daughter, who had gone into a store.

She added: 'I told him I can't just leave and then he said that he would remove me physically and then he called another security guard and that guy came over and then my daughter showed up and I said we were just here to take my grandson to see Santa and he said you can't see Santa.'

Mrs Cassella said the incident was embarrassing and has vowed never to return to the mall.

A spokesperson for the University Park Mall said managers are investigating the incident.

She said it was not mall policy to immediately remove shoppers for taking a picture, but that shoppers who do not comply with requests to stop taking photos or were aggressive with staff, would be ejected.