A Grinch he’s not

DENTON – He’s a bit of a prankster, a merry songster and a cheerful deputy with the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office.

You’ll usually see DFC Chuck Bealefeld in uniform behind the front desk of the Health and Public Services Building in Denton. But sometimes he adopts a different persona.

He recently serenaded clients and staff of the Caroline County Medical Adult Day Care with his sometimes off-tune rendition of the Grinch’s theme song, as well as “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” They ribbed him, and he took it in stride, giving as well as taking good-natured jabs.

But during the gift-wrapping party following Shop with a Cop on Dec. 14, he and a merry band of mischievous elves pranked his stepson Matt Spiker, principal of North Caroline High School.

Gaining entrance with the janitor’s master key, Bealefeld, the Grinch, the school SRO, Spiker’s secretary and her fiancé – a sheriff’s deputy – festooned Spiker’s desk and floor with large chunks of wrapping paper confetti and wrapped his microphone and radio, among other devices and furniture.

“It's my idea, and when I mentioned it, they all just overwhelmingly agreed,” Bealefeld said.

“My first question I asked of his secretary, ‘Does he have any important engagements on Monday morning that we're not going to mess him up?’ And she said, ‘No,’ but apparently, he's either lying or she was lying,” he said. “They were doing testing in his office for hearing-challenged students. He had to scramble to get his office cleaned up. We wrapped his microphone so he couldn't do announcements. We wrapped his school radio, and he couldn't call anyone on the radio.”

Why prank the principal? “Because he torments others, and he had to be tormented back,” Bealefeld said. He’s known his stepson most of his life, having married his mom Diane 39 years ago.

At first Spiker thought students had invaded his space, but “he checked the school computers, and we all got caught by the camera,” Bealefeld said.

A week earlier, the principal was “Super Spiker.” He donned his Superman outfit and greeted students Dec. 13 – his reward to them for donating 3,000 pounds of canned goods.

Bealefeld said the wrapping paper “carnage” on Dec. 14 wasn’t premeditated “because he's at every event, and if something's happening at that school, he's there. So, for him not to be at that event was surprising in itself.”

A homicide investigator for 20 years, Bealefeld said he and his former colleagues let off steam by creating opportunities to smile.

“You've seen so much, and people (ask), ‘Well, how can you smile?’ And you'll see pictures of cops at crime scenes smiling, because if you don't smile, then it’ll get to you, you know? It's crazy, but it's how we deal with it,” he said.

“And this place,” Bealefeld said, laughing and pointing towards the hallway, “For the past week and a half, you've seen some of the pranks they've been doing on me.”

“Officer Chuck” has been on the receiving end of some good-natured ribbing, with staff members adding his mugshot to a wanted poster or atop the Grinch’s green body.

“He is amazing,” Health Officer Robin Cahall said. “Chuck just provides a good sense of peace to all of us. He joins in and is such a good sport.”