Meet The The 'Grinch' Who Gave Back To Stockton
STOCKTON (CBS13) - A Grinch spotting inside a Stockton mall. But this time, he's doing good.
Two men, caught on camera throwing cash to strangers, just days before Christmas. It happened inside the Weberstown mall, as the clock hit 6:30 p.m. -- the peak of the shopping rush.
Video shows two men, one dressed up as the Grinch running around the Center Court All of this happened, as the Barajas family was waiting in line for pictures with Santa.
"All of a sudden, we saw some guy with a Grinch costume on, and they started throwing money in the air," said Carlos Barajas.
He said he didn't know who the men are, but started recording on his phone. You see the crowd going wild, for the cash.
"Imagine money being thrown around you, everybody was going crazy," said Barajas.
His kids got in on the action.
"It looked like it was raining," said Carlos Jr.
"A lot of people went to get it," said Cloe Barajas.
Word spread quickly, about the mystery Grinch. The video went viral with thousands of views online.
"I just saw some guy walking around. He had like a little Dillard's bag and I just saw him go all the way around," said one shopper.
Kristin Shiloh said, "I came to the mall on the wrong day, but that's absolutely amazing."
On Christmas Eve, the man behind the mask is revealing himself. Terry Houston, from Stockon.
"It's me! Terry Houston. I just wanted to bring smiles to your faces, and I hope we did that!" he said.
Houston says he wanted to do a good thing, to make his neighbors holiday a little brighter.
"I hope it inspires others to do the same, give back," said Houston.
Houston raised money through donations from the community. Almost $2,500 was given out.
It's the second year he and his friends have done this.
A family says they were even able to pay for their photoshoot with Santa in full, just through the cash donations picked up on the mall floor.