More than 23 million Americans have had a package stolen from their porch at some time in their life, and so called “porch pirates” know that the holiday season is prime time for swiping unattended packages. That being said, police and residents know this too, and they are fighting back. We recently read three stories about package theft in the Twin Cities where the thieves got more than they bargained for. We share those stories below.
Bait Box
A 36-year-old Edina man was recently arrested and taken to jail for stealing a bait box left out by local police. With a homeowner’s permission, police placed a GPS tracker in a package that looked like a Dell laptop computer and left it on the homeowner’s porch. A little while later, Edina police got a signal that the box was on the move. They followed the GPS tracker and eventually stopped Raymond Montel Hester, who was caught red-handed with the bait box in his car. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t the only package police uncovered in his vehicle. He was charged with possession of stolen property and booked into Hennepin County Jail.
iPoo
A Twin Cities man who had a watch stolen from his doorstep has made it his “duty” to get even with porch pirates this holiday season. The man, who didn’t want his identity revealed, packaged up some of his dog’s poop into an iPhone box and left it on his front porch to see if the watch thief would return. The next day, the package was gone, and the man had a video of the thief grabbing the iPhone box from his front porch.
The man said he’s pulled the same move several times this holiday season, and sometimes the package only makes it a couple of hours before it disappears.
“I never thought that I would have trouble keeping up with demand of boxes of excrement, but that seems to be the new, hot holiday gift this year,” he said.
He turned over the surveillance footage to police, but said he has no interest in retrieving the poo packages that have been stolen.
Video and Tips Nab Porch Pirate
A woman who was caught on camera stealing a box containing a child’s toy in Columbia Heights has been arrested. Surveillance footage caught a man and woman stealing packages throughout a Columbia Heights neighborhood and then getting in a car and driving away. Police posted the video on Facebook, and a viewer was able to identify the woman on the screen as Gianna Jean Sanders.
Police located Sanders at her home, and when confronted with the video she admitted to stealing the packages with a man known as “B-right.” She handed over a number of stolen items, but was unable to return the wonder woman costume she stole in the video. She was taken into police custody and charged with felony theft. “B-right” is still at large at the moment.
