Police Seek Porch Package Thief Caught on Video

Palo Alto police are looking for help in stopping a thief who stole packages from a porch in the 2700 block of South Court.

You can watch the video here on YouTube.

According to a Palo Alto Police Department statement released on Nixle, on Thursday at about 10:45 a.m. the police 24-hour dispatch center received a call from a resident in the 2700 block of South Court reporting a package theft that had occurred on Saturday, December 5.

The victim, a woman in her forties, had been out of town, and upon returning home, discovered the theft and immediately called police.

The investigation revealed that on Saturday, December 5, five packages were delivered separately to the victim’s residence. About five hours later, at about 3:52 p.m., the victim’s home surveillance camera system recorded an unknown suspect stealing the packages off her porch. It appears as though the suspect spotted the packages as he drove slowly through the neighborhood; the suspect initially passed the victim’s house, then made a U-turn and parked directly in front.

According to police, the suspect appears to be a Hispanic male between 25 and 30 years of age, about 5’ 7” to 5’ 10” tall with an average build and a mustache. He was wearing a black T-shirt with a red “Superman” logo on the front, an unzipped white sweatshirt with the hood up, blue pants, and black sports sandals with white socks. The suspect vehicle was a red 1990s-era four-door sedan, with tinted rear windows and no hubcaps. It is possibly a Nissan Sentra. After the theft, the suspect drove away southbound on South Court.

The five packages contained miscellaneous items with a total value of over $600.

Police have a number of tips on how to prevent package theft on their website here: http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=3392&TargetID=94.

For more crime prevention tips, visit www.cityofpaloalto.org/StopCrime.

Anyone with information about this incident, or who may recognize the suspect or his vehicle, is asked to call the 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413.

Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously through their mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.