SPOKANE, Wash. – The season of giving unfortunately is proving to be the season of taking for thieves, after one porch pirate stole from yet another home in Spokane on Saturday, this time stealing $500 worth of Christmas gifts. “We don’t want packages stolen on Christmas, it’s sad,” Victim London Taylor said.
Although online shopping during the holidays can be convenient and timesaving for millions of Americans, there are risks to know, regarding the possible “porch piracy” of your delivered packages.
A new report from CNET shows that over $74 billion dollars’ worth of packages could be left on doorsteps this holiday season. In addition, more than 104 million Americans expect to leave their homes unattended for at least a six-hour period — posing an increased risk of porch theft.
And sadly, stories like this are not uncommon; we’ve reported multiple instances of porch piracy across Spokane in the last few weeks, and the latest theft takes place on a local mother’s front porch.
“I felt violated,” Taylor said.
Violated, disappointed, angry – all feelings that ran through London Taylor’s mind when she found three of her packages, full of Christmas presents, had been stolen from her porch just 30 minutes after the mail carrier dropped them off. The theft happened on November 25, just two days after Thanksgiving.
Through video footage captured on Taylor’s security camera, a picture of the thief was painted clearly; he was a white male wearing all Nike products, head-to-toe, from the hoodie to the shoes.
Inside the packages he ripped from her front porch, before running off, was $500 worth of Christmas presents.
“There were Canadian coats from Nordstroms, 200 dollars each, and earphones for my son that he really wanted for Christmas. Also, had some ‘Squishmallows’ for my daughter, just stuff that was on the Thanksgiving sales,” Taylor said. “He knew exactly when to come.”
Taylor immediately filed a police report with the Spokane Police Department (SPD), who she said has been incredibly helpful in the effort to find the criminal.
If Taylor had one message for the thief in question, she would tell him, that she will not stop searching until he is behind bars.
“We’re still going to hunt for you no matter what, I mean I would stop doing it if I were you. It’s not really doing you any good going from porch to porch not knowing what you’re getting, and just running off with it. That’s just sad,” she said. “This isn’t a neighborhood that can afford to rebuy all of their gifts or wait six months for the post office to refund them, it’s unfortunate.”
According to SPD, we are in peak package theft season, which runs from October through December. And with Christmas just around the corner, it’s safe to say more and more packages will be delivered to homes.
“This is going to be a bad week, I would just watch out for your packages,” Taylor said.
Taylor is offering a $300 reward for anyone who has information on the thief who stole her packages; if you have any clue, call Crime Check at (509) 456 – 2233.
And all law enforcement wants to make sure you know this: if you are the victim of a package theft, please report it to your local agency’s non-emergency line. They use that information to help allocate resources.
