“It brings tears to your eyes, and I’m not even that religious of a person,” said Rick Takacs, who offered a reward last year for information about the crime.

This week, a handsome new crèche donated by local business leaders was on display at Old Settlers Park. And West Bend was taking no chances. The new set came with its statue of baby Jesus firmly plastered to the manger. Workers bolted every sheep and rooster and wise man to the ground. And anytime a visitor peered in close, a motion-activated trail camera, like the ones used by deer hunters to track their prey, began recording.

“There’s no way someone can take it,” said Jennifer Smith, who works for the Downtown West Bend Association, which manages the display.

Theories about why baby Jesus figurines have become targets are as abundant as the array of security measures dreamed up to protect them. Some owners of Nativity scenes, long a centerpiece of Christmas celebrations, suggest an erosion of faith may be at the root. How else could someone walk away with the main character in a display honoring Jesus’ birth some 2,000 years ago in a Bethlehem stable? Others, though, say these are merely thoughtless teenage pranks.