8 times suspected 'porch pirates' have been thwarted from stealing holiday packages
KABC/Houston Police
Home surveillance systems and clever police officers have been tackling the issue of "porch pirates" who steal packages delivered to front doors across the country.
Insider compiled a list of some high profile arrests involving package thieves in the last few years.
With last-minute holiday gifts arriving at homes across the country, many may be fearing so-called porch pirates who go around neighborhoods looting people's holiday packages.
But Americans would be happy to know that surveillance cameras and police department sting operations have been helping catch these package thieves and discourage others from doing the same.
Here are several notable package thief arrests, and how they were caught.
Former NASA engineer and YouTube personality Mark Rober said he caught several thieves in 2018 with a specially designed fake package that exploded glitter when opened.
The fake package was also outfitted with multiple cameras to capture the thief's response to the surprise, as well as a fart spray that was triggered to encourage them to abandon the box.
It's unclear if Rober actually caught anyone with the device, but it sure made a spectacular sight when it exploded glitter.
Watch the full video on Rober's YouTube channel »
Glendale, California, resident Shannon Brandon, right, shamed one potential package thief into returning a box she witnessed him stealing off one of her neighbor's porches. "I don't think so ... go put that back, right now!" Brandon shouted on December 18.
KABC reported at the time that police didn't find the suspect.
The Milpitas Police Department in California staged a sting operation that resulted in the arrest of Flor Estela Hernandez, 37, on December 11.
According to a press release from the police department, officers placed a bait package at a doorstop on McCandless Drive. Just eight minutes later, Hernandez drove up, parked her car, and took the package before driving away, police said. Officers soon pulled her over and arrested her on charges of grand theft and being an unlicensed driver.
"The Milpitas Police Department will continue to conduct similar operations and be proactive in protecting residents from being victims," the statement read.
Other police departments across the country have been carrying out similar bait operations with packages equipped with GPS, according to a 2017 report from CBS This Morning.
Piedmont, California, seasonal UPS worker Unyque Marie Alley was arrested on suspicion of petty theft on December 19, 2019, after police said she stole an iPad she delivered two days prior.
KPIX/Piedmont Police Department
Piedmont Police said in a statement that a surveillance camera at the homeowner's address showed Alley, a driver's aide, signing for the package herself and then making off with the iPad.
The homeowner, who received a notification that the package had been delivered, went outside and couldn't find the package, so he reported it missing.
Alley, 40, was arrested on her route two days later and charged with petty theft.
Surveillance footage shows a neighborhood patrol in Brooklyn, New York, catching a suspect in March 2018.
CrownHeights.info via CBS New York
Hector Roman, 33, was arrested and charged with petit larceny and possession of stolen property, CBS New York reported.
A Utica, Michigan, woman dubbed the "Christmas Grinch" admitted to stealing multiple packages from her own neighborhood when she was caught in the act in November 2018.
A man caught the woman stealing a package off his porch and followed her until police could make an arrest. While the woman initially denied doing anything wrong, she eventually admitted to stealing multiple packages from her neighborhood, according to WDIV.
Police in Houston, Texas, said they arrested a package thief twice in an eight-day span thanks to home surveillance footage in 2016.
According to press release from the Houston Police, 44-year-old David Nelson Brown was arrested on July 7, 2016, on two counts of felony theft after surveillance video showed him stealing a package from a home in the Heights area of town on June 28.
He was arrested a second time just eight days later when surveillance footage from May 23 showed him stealing from another home in the same neighborhood. That incident resulted in an additional felony theft charge.
Multiple package thieves have been caught using websites like Nextdoor, which hosts hyper-local social networks for neighborhoods across the country.
In November 2017, Sarpy County, Nebraska, resident Derick Snow posted video showing a man stealing a package from his front door, WOWT reported.
A day after investigators saw the video on the website, they arrested Roland Johnson Jr. at a motel and recovered several other stolen packages.
A similar incident unfolded in the Fall Creek Place neighborhood of Indianapolis, Indiana, a year prior, WTHR reported.
When Brian Hunt came home one day in July 2015 and found packages missing, he reviewed his surveillance footage and got an image of the thief. He posted the video to YouTube and Nextdoor, and within hours a neighbor had spotted the same thief in the vicinity.
Anthony Davis, 55, was arrested for theft of United States Postal Service and UPS packages, according to police reports WTHR reviewed.
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