TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa residents say they caught a porch pirate on camera apparently stealing a package.
Ali Daniels received a notification on her phone that her Amazon package was delivered at nine Tuesday morning.
“I picked up the baby because she had woken up, just got her dressed," Daniels said. "And 10 minutes later went out to get the package and it was already gone.”
She and her husband, Wes, looked at their security cameras. They said a man dressed in red sweats stealing a package containing $30 worth of gardening tools right off their front porch.
“And somebody just walks up to your porch," Daniels said. "It’s a little alarming.”
They also discovered that the man who stole their package was looking around for others.
“Once he looked back a little bit further than just the initial grab you can see that he follows the mailman, which, our mailman walks on foot too," Daniels said. "So, kind of, again, alarming for him as well that he’s got people following him.
The increase in porch pirates has led state Rep. Ross Ford (R-Broken Arrow) to create a new bill to make it easier to prosecute them. Ford said, currently, any criminal charges would be based on what the package is worth. With his new bill, it won’t matter how much. Ford also said, typically, the first offense for porch theft is a misdemeanor. However, if someone is following the delivery truck or person to multiple houses, prosecutors could charge them with a felony.
“This bill is intended to make sure that the perpetrator thinks twice before he comes on someone’s property and steals property," Ford said.
Daniels said they will be a little more cautious when getting packages delivered in the future.
“Probably send it to one of our works when we know we’re there as opposed to sending it to home when we know we’re not going to be home," she said.
Ali said they have turned their video over to Tulsa police.
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