Porch pirate steals 3-yo’s birthday presents

By Holly Bock

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    CHANDLER, Arizona (KPHO) — Chandler Police need your help looking for a thief.

A man was caught on a Nest camera stealing packages from a home in Chandler off of Ocotillo Road. It wasn’t just any package. It was a three-year-old’s birthday presents.

Lindsey Dixon and her family were at dinner when her phone alerted her of activity at the front door. “We saw the push notification from Nest,” Dixon said.

Her security cameras caught a man in broad daylight walk up to their front porch, take their packages from their home on Yellowstone Place, and run back to his silver pickup truck. All of this happened during the middle of the day.

“He (her son) was pretty sad and upset,” Dixon said. “The Amazon truck delivered the package around 4:30 p.m., and the man stole them within the next hour.”

Inside these packages were presents for their three-year-old son from family all across the country. “We did find out my mom sent him a construction book and a dinosaur you build from my aunt,” Dixon said.

Dixon said two other neighbors had packages stolen as well. None of them recognize the man. “I don’t understand what would drive them to do something like this,” Dixon said. “Hopefully, we can get him caught soon, so he doesn’t do this to anyone else. We’ve never had anything like this before,” Dixon said.

Security expert Adam Coughran says having cameras at your house will always be a great option, but he does have other tips on how you can keep your packages safe as we head into the holiday season.

“Unfortunately, it’s almost tis the season, a lot of crooks know everyone is getting presents delivered,” Coughran said. “Try at all cost to be there for the delivery or request a signature upon delivery.”

Coughran recommends getting packages delivered to a neighbor if you know you won’t be home or look into pickup options.

Whether it’s going to Amazon locker at a grocery store or Amazon hub near you to pick up from there or local UPS or FedEx store,” Coughran said. “Amazon and a lot of other providers allow, especially if you have a Ring system, allow for a delivery person to leave them in a designated spot so maybe inside your garage or in the front portion of an entryway and actually provide a code or access to the garage to the delivery person.”

In this case, Lindsey says her family was able to get items replaced. But Coughran says that won’t always happen. “Sometimes, you might just be completely out of luck,” Coughran said. “But if you let them know the package was stolen off of the front porch, especially if there is video of it, some providers will supply a replacement.”

“I’m definitely going to look into garage delivery or even Amazon locker,” Dixon said. “I’m pretty angry.”

Through frustration, Lindsey says at the end of the day, what matters is that her son is still happy and excited to celebrate his 3rd birthday tomorrow at the zoo.

Chandler Police say no arrests have been made in this case.

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