After a front porch theft was caught on camera, the power of social media brought the box back.
Julian Dillard was alerted Wednesday morning by his home surveillance video system that someone was on his front porch.
He watched the video and saw a young man jump out of a car, steal the package that was just delivered, then speed away.
“I literally felt violated!" Dillard said. “At 10 o’clock I saw the post office van come and they dropped off a package, then at 10:45, I got a notification from the camera that someone came to the front porch and I literally watched the guy come up.”
Dillard’s neighbor, Bob Long, witnessed the crime.
“That’s when I jumped in my truck," Long said.
He tried to chase the thieves down, but had no luck.
After Dillard posted the story on social media, the post went viral.
Somehow, the thief’s mother saw it and made him return to Dillard’s home with his package and apologize.
“I can't tell you what this means, I really appreciate it,” Dillard told the family. “It's a trinket, that's not the important part. No one wants to see their kid on TV for stealing something or committing a felony for mail theft, but they brought it back."
As the holiday season nears, police are warning about the possibility of packages being stolen that are delivered to empty homes.
There are some things you can do. You can ask for delivery to your workplace, have your shipping provider hold your package at their office, or require a signature with delivery.
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Lexi Sutter can be reached at lexi.sutter@kshb.com.
