Porch pirate or prank? Langley woman’s package stolen, then returned with apologetic note

Was it a scavenger hunt—or sticky fingers?

A Langley woman says she was the victim of a brazen mail thief on Wednesday, and she has the surveillance footage to prove it.

“I couldn’t believe the way she stole it,” Courtney Thomas told Global News on Thursday.

“She skipped along the line, and had a big smile on her face. Like it was all a game.”

Thomas is referring to the woman who was captured on camera stealing an online purchase, a portable greenhouse, that was delivered to Thomas’ home by UPS mail courier Wednesday morning.

In the footage, the UPS driver can be seen dropping the large package off—followed several minutes later by the woman who removes the item off Thomas’ doorstep, and runs away with it.

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1:35 Burnaby mail thief caught on doorbell camera

She quickly loads the item in a blue Chevy Tahoe, where another person appears to be waiting, and drives off.

This isn’t the first time Thomas has experienced theft on her property, which she moved to less than a year ago.

That is ultimately why she was able to watch the ordeal play out in real time—thanks to her newly installed home surveillance system, triggered by a motion detector and set to start recording when somebody sets foot on Thomas’ doorstep.

“I got an alert that my package had first been delivered.” Thomas explained.

“And then, a few minutes later, I got another alert. That seemed very odd. And then I saw a lady stealing my package when I checked my surveillance.”

Thomas posted that footage on Facebook where it was viewed and shared hundreds of times.

And that may be why the parcel was returned on Thursday—discovered back on Thomas’ doorstep by a Global News cameraman, 24 hours after it was swiped. And it had a note attached to it.

“Let me explain myself and my action,” it begins.

“I did not steal it. In fact it was all a part of some stupid scavenger Halloween thing. Anyway, the point is it wasn’t mine and it never shoulda (sic) happened – yet it really did – that being said, my apologies to your residence for any inconvenience this might have caused, truly.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I did not steal it. In fact it was all a part of some stupid scavenger Halloween thing. Anyway, the point is it wasn't mine and it never shoulda (sic) happened - yet it really did - that being said, my apologies to your residence for any inconvenience this might have caused, truly."

The note ends with an insistence that the woman who took the package did not, in fact, do so with malicious intent.

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0:50 Brazen thief steals package off a Richmond stoop

“Enjoy the day,” the writer signs off. “Truly was a game, not theft.”

But that explanation doesn’t cut it for Thomas—or for police.

“Well, no,” said Langley RCMP Sgt. Alexandra Mulvihill in response to claims the parcel was taken as part of a scavenger hunt. “She went on somebody’s private property and took the parcel. Returned or not, it’s still theft.”

Thomas agrees.

“It’s a Wednesday afternoon, and your scavenger hunt involves stealing people’s mail? I don’t really buy it.”

Langley RCMP are now looking to speak with the woman in the video. Anyone with information is asked to call the Langley RCMP non-emergency line at 604-532-3200.