Caught in Act: Seattle woman confronts package thief on her front porch

SEATTLE -- A Phinney Ridge woman caught a thief trying to steal a package from her front porch. She got her item back safely, but the woman got away.

So now she’s warning her neighbors to be on the lookout.

Lisa Chow has seen the videos of thieves taking packages right off people’s front porches. But she never thought it would happen to her, because she works from home.

“I have my regular guys I see, and I know what times they’re going to come,” she says. “I kind of know the behaviors of each of the different delivery drivers.”

But Thursday, she heard some rustling on her front porch. She didn’t see a delivery truck, so she opened her front door. There was a woman trying to stuff a package into her backpack.

“I didn’t even think how dangerous it could have been, which was kind of stupid,” Chow admits. “I just thought I’m never going to get the box back if I don’t stop her.”



The woman gave the box back, then took off.

“She was saying her friend told her to come here, that she just got the address wrong, she was trying to look confused.”

Chow has a surveillance camera on her porch, but she didn’t get a good shot of the suspect.

Police say video has helped them catch some package thieves. But with these types of thefts on the rise, they say the best thing homeowners can do is eliminate the opportunity.

“Call UPS or FedEx and let them know I’ll just pick my package up at your location,” advises officer Todd Green of the Bonney Lake Police Department.

Chow says the whole point of shopping online is for the convenience.  But now that she knows how brazen thieves can be, she will be more careful the next time she places an order.

“Probably paying more attention to when they’ll be scheduled and when they’ll be delivering,” she says.  “I think companies probably need to be better about alerting the owners more ahead of time.”

The suspect in this case was in her late 40s or 50s, about 5’6 with long brown hair. She had a black backpack, and a push cart. She was last seen Thursday afternoon, walking down 8th Avenue NW in Phinney Ridge.