A man dressed as an Amazon employee allegedly took several delivery items from a porch in Richmond, Virginia, this week.
“Stolen from the front stoop, three packages were nabbed Tuesday morning outside a home on the 4500-block of Cary Street Road. Police say they are investigating,” CBS 17 reported.
Surveillance video reportedly shows a man approach the home just before 11 a.m. and drop off an item before taking three packages and walking away toward a blue, four-door sedan.
“The person with the packages appears to place the boxes on a back seat before sitting in the front passenger seat,” the outlet said.
When he turned away from the house, a grey arrow similar to those on Amazon driver uniforms was seen on his vest.
“However, there was no van in sight. Just an apparent getaway car,” the CBS 17 article read.
In a tweet Friday morning, the outlet shared a photo of what appeared to be the man wearing the vest:
Virginia 'porch pirate' dresses as Amazon employee https://t.co/ZdRCwIbuad pic.twitter.com/QqSs6Il0YQ
— CBS 17 (@WNCN) November 27, 2020
The Richmond Police Department (RPD) also shared an image of the alleged thief and said he has been “stealing packages from porches in recent days”:
A male, wearing a blue delivery-type vest, much like the one in the photo, has been stealing packages from porches in recent days. With a box in hand he would approach a porch with parcels already present and switch them out before leaving area in a waiting blue vehicle. pic.twitter.com/5c84GsCoyj
— Richmond Police (@RichmondPolice) November 27, 2020
“With a box in hand he would approach a porch with parcels already present and switch them out before leaving [the] area in a waiting blue vehicle,” the department said.
In another post, the RPD suggested citizens have packages delivered to their workplace or ask a family member or trusted neighbor to receive them:
RPD suggests for package deliveries:
• Have packages delivered to your workplace;
• Ask family member or trusted neighbor to receive parcels;
• Pick up at local distribution center or locker location;
• Request signature on delivery.— Richmond Police (@RichmondPolice) November 27, 2020
“Obviously it’s a shame. I’m sure it’s happened more and more often,” neighbor Andrew Breton said of the recent incident.
“I’m sorry to hear that it’s happened to other people. I also can imagine there’s a lot of people in more desperate straits than usual, just given the state of the economy these days. So I’m also not surprised that people might be resorting to stealing packages,” he noted.
The homeowner told CBS 17 the package the man left was addressed to another home and someone who received his delivery returned it.
“Based on these events, he believes whoever did this, may be discarding packages they don’t want after stealing them, at homes where they’re looking for more,” the outlet said.
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