Front Range Residents Grow Increasingly Concerned About Holiday Bandits
By Tom Mustin
CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (CBS4) - "It's crazy. It kind of worries me."
Merridy Jensen is talking about the new crime wave that's hitting in Douglas County and across the Denver metro area -- holiday grinches stealing packages from front porches.
"It's just terrible, especially this time of year," the Castle Rock woman told CBS4's Tom Mustin. "Money is tight as it is, and people steal your packages."
In the past few days, thefts have been reported from Castle Rock to Highlands Ranch. In some cases the crooks have followed UPS trucks, waited for them to leave, and then stolen the parcels.
"I'm shocked that people would be that brazen -- to just follow UPS trucks around? It's crazy," said Jensen.
Some of the thefts have been caught on camera. Home surveillance video from last year caught a man stealing packages from a Denver home and a woman taking gifts from a porch. Two weeks ago video caught a woman ripping off boxes from a home in Thornton.
"It's kind of creepy. It makes you want to look out at your porch more than you normally would," said Castle Rock resident Steve Heyn.
More than 400,000 packages will delivered in the Denver metro area every day for the next few weeks.
Heyn says he understands why he and his neighbors are targets.
"It seems like a really easy way to get a few, fast things," he said.
UPS, Fed Ex and the post office all offer services where people can have their packages delivered when and where they want. They also offer phone apps so customers can get their deliveries safely.
But with hundreds of thousands of deliveries slated before Christmas, front porches are still inviting targets. And with weeks to go before Santa makes his deliveries, Merridy Jensen has a message for the holiday bandits.
"Stay out of my neighborhood and stop doing it. I hope they get caught."
If you have information on any of the package thefts, call your local police department.
Tom Mustin is CBS4's Weekend Anchor. He has been with CBS4 since 2002, and is always looking for great story ideas. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomCBS4.