Apparent porch pirate shamed into returning nearly-stolen package
Santa may know when you are sleeping and know when you're awake, but it's one California woman who knows when you've been stealing packages. When Shannon Brandon caught an apparent porch pirate in the act, she shamed him into putting the package back where it belonged, CBS Los Angeles reported — and her son caught the whole Christmas crisis on camera.
Brandon and her son Derek were eating breakfast in front of their home in Glendale when they saw a car pull up, Brandon told CBS Los Angeles. They originally thought the strangers were going to visit neighbors, she said, but then Derek Brandon saw one of the people pick up an Amazon package at their neighbor's front door.
"I told her, 'I saw that guy just reach down and take the package,'" Derek Brandon told CBS Los Angeles. "'Mom! That guy is stealing the package!'"
As soon as her son pointed out the man in question, Brandon jumped into action. As she ran towards the man screaming at him to replace the box, her son caught the interaction on camera.
"Stop! Go put that back," she can be heard saying in the video. "Right now. Put it back!"
The man returned the package, reunited with his accomplice and drove off from the scene. The box, which Brandon was worried might contain Christmas presents for children, contained a couple of pillows.
James Farr-Jones, the man whose package was almost stolen, said Brandon "did a really good job."
"It's a really funny end to it," he said, "because she got the guy to put the package back and not just run off."
In 2017, nearly 26 million people in the U.S. reported that their holiday packages were stolen from their front porch or doorstep, and there have been several incidents of the crime this year. Two package thieves were arrested in Miami on Friday after getting caught stealing packages on a Nest camera; a woman in Texas has had at least seven packages stolen this holiday season; and last week, a porch pirate in Minnesota left a thank you note in the spot where the stolen package had sat.
