Life
Woman has package stolen & in its place thief leaves snarky note
The thief's goal was to piss off the owners and boy did they do that. I would be furious!
Kristin Danley-Greiner
12.18.19

โ€˜Tis the season for porch pirates to be sneaking onto peopleโ€™s properties and swiping the highly anticipated Christmas gift harbored inside plain brown cardboard boxes. There are some things people can do to try and protect their packages from being stolen, but as Hilary Smith found out, criminals can be just plain mean.

A real-life Grinch sauntered onto Hilaryโ€™s front porch and snatched a present for her boss then took off with it. Hilary had the gift delivered to her St. Paul, Minn., home, but she never found it.

Flickr/Paul Sullivan
Source:
Flickr/Paul Sullivan

What she did find when she arrived home, however, was a snarky note from the thief.

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โ€œI looked down, and there was a piece of notebook paper folded neatly on the top step, where the package probably should have been.โ€
The thief had the audacity to thank her for leaving her package out in plain sight.
โ€œSo just a quick little thank you for leaving me the (opportunity) of stealing your package. Very nice of you. Thank you. (signed) The new owner of your package.โ€
WCCO
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WCCO
Hilary cannot believe someone swiped her package in broad daylight, let alone left such a rude note.
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โ€œI do appreciate a nicely crafted thank-you note, but this is ridiculous. I was angry and confused and quite flabbergasted someone would actually leave a โ€˜thank youโ€™ note when they steal a package.โ€

In the hopes of preventing another package theft, Hilary has left a decoy package on her front porch as bait. The best part is whatโ€™s inside that package.

Itโ€™s brimming with โ€œa little gift from my dog,โ€ she said.

โ€œItโ€™s brazen and arrogant. Just making sure we raise awareness that this is really happening, and I donโ€™t want people to have their holiday season wrecked to have something big stolen from them.โ€

WCCO
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WCCO
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Hilary shared the incident on social media where people were astounded at what happened. Her post also caught the attention of the St. Paul Police Department and Sgt. Mike Ernster.

โ€œItโ€™s something weโ€™ve never seen before, and I donโ€™t know what to chalk it up to. Itโ€™s so unheard of. So we want people to report crimes as they occur so we can keep track of them and hopefully solve them.โ€

Flickr/Many Wonderful Artists
Source:
Flickr/Many Wonderful Artists
Experts say there are several ways to reduce the risk of having valuable deliveries stolen from the porch, which peaks during the holiday season, such as:
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  • Ship packages to your work address or to a trusted neighbor who will be home.
  • Use an Amazon Hub Locker for Amazon packages or take advantage of โ€œShip to Storeโ€ option that many stores offer.
  • Ask FedEx or UPS to hold a package at one of their facilities until you can pick it up.
  • Request that your package has signature confirmation upon delivery.
  • Ask your carrier to place package in an area out of plain view.
It turns out that doorbell cameras arenโ€™t always effective in preventing porch thefts, sadly. Hopefully Hilary nabs her porch pirate and doesnโ€™t have any more packages swiped from her front porch.
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