UPDATE | Homeowner Rudy Sanger tells ABC Action News the thieves came back and dumped the stolen shelves on her front lawn on Friday. Her surveillance camera did not catch them.
ORIGINAL STORY | TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Police are looking for two men who got away after allegedly stealing packages from a homeowner.
The crime happened Tuesday around 4 p.m. on West Woodlawn Avenue.
Rudy Sanger told ABC Action News she got an alert on her phone from her Ring app detecting movement outside. She went to the door to pick her packages that she knew had been delivered but, to her alarm, when she opened her front door a stranger was grabbing her package. Her surveillance camera caught the heated exchange.
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"Are you kidding me?!" she yells at the thief, "Stop! You [expletive]."
Despite hearing her the porch pirate ran off with the two boxes.
"Totally ignored me and he ran off and he got in the car so fast he put those packages in the car like it was his job," said Sanger.
The surveillance video barely catches the feet of another person right around the corner.
“I’m like—I’m mad, I’m furious. I’m screaming and yelling and mad," she described.
TPD said the theft occurred just seconds after the UPS driver delivered the packages. They said it's a possibility the thieves were following the truck. Sanger immediately thought the same.
“I just feel like because of the timeline, how quickly they got here after the UPS driver they had to have been following him and watching him," she said.
Sanger said all they managed to steal was a bunch of shelves.
“I was mad at them because I was really looking forward to them shelves," she laughed, "I was looking forward to decorating my kitchen with them and they stole them!"
She told ABC Action News she wanted to follow after them but thought twice fearful they might be armed. TPD said she did the right thing by not putting herself in danger.
The two men were driving a blue older model compact, according to TPD. From the surveillance footage it appeared to have damage to its driver's side back fender. The porch pirate caught on camera was wearing a Cleveland Cavaliers hat and shirt.
If anyone has information they are urged to contact TPD.
