Denver police are looking for two suspects, dubbed as “porch pirates,” who were caught on camera stealing packages off of a disabled veteran’s front porch.
FOX 31 Denver reports that U.S. Army veteran Mike Long and his wife installed a surveillance camera at their residence on Thursday. Just two days later, the camera caught a woman walking up to Long’s front porch and taking his packages. According to residents, someone in a truck stayed parked for hours and disappeared shortly after the packages were taken. It’s unclear who was driving the truck or what they look like.
“It does make you feel violated because that was my wife’s jacket and some toiletries and some gifts and stuff like that,” Long said. “And it came to my phone as an alert and I came back home about 10 minutes later and they were gone.”
Residents said that the duo may have followed the mail truck while keeping an eye on packages being left on porches.
“What bothers me is that they’re walking around following the mailman just walking up to houses like they own the place and taking people’s things,” Long continued.
With the increase in Internet shopping, stolen packages are on the rise. In 2015, more than 264 packages were stolen in Denver alone. Business Wire reports that in 2016, over 11 million residents in the U.S. reported packages being stolen.
Long said he doesn’t expect to get his stolen packages back, but would love to see “heat” put on the suspects.
“At least just put some heat on these people that go around and do it so they’re not so brazen and they do know that they have something to fear.”
Anyone with information on the suspects is urged to contact the police.
[Feature Photo: Surveillance/Screenshot]