A Portsmouth man is hunting the tatted-up thief that stole his brand-new Alexa right off his porch. He made off with something else, too. But I’ll save that for later. The attempt to find this dude is made a little bit easier by the fact that he caught the whole thing on camera.
This is the view from the front porch of Huey Yelley’s Vinton Avenue home. Notice the beautiful landscaping and the pond on the right. Then notice that guy strolling down the sidewalk on the left.
Then he casually makes a turn to down the sidewalk to Yelley’s home.
You can’t see his face because he’s wearing his social-distancing mask. However, his tank top makes it easy to see his beefy arms in all of their tattooed glory.
Here’s a closer look at his left shoulder. Pretty distinctive.
Here’s the moment when the porch pirate spots the familiar Amazon package with its smiling face.
And he grabs it in a flash.
Then he turns on a dime to take off. Huey Yelley said thieves like this are a big problem in his neighborhood. “Everything that they can pick up, they pick up.”
Check this shot of our crook leaving the scene.
Look closely at his left hand. In addition to ripping off Yelley’s Alexa, this crook took a child’s toy. He couldn’t stop himself from picking up a white horse.
Then he took off down the street with a smart speaker and a toy horse in hand.
To make matters worse, Yelley says he was just around the back of his house doing work in the yard. He found his package gone only about 5 minutes after the thief struck.
A Better Look
And that is not the first time this guy has visited the house. Here he is with his backpack in hand using Huey Yelley’s porch as his own personal Walmart.
However in this shot, you can get a better look at his face.
Can Porch Pirates Be Stopped?
He says he didn’t file a police report for the stolen Amazon Alexa. “I know they don’t got time to mess with things like that with all the things is going on.” In fact, Yelley suggested we do a story about how much work local law enforcement has on their plate. Yelley just wanted to get this guy’s face out there to make sure everyone keeps an eye out for him.
Thanks to the COVID-19 lockdown, Amazon deliveries are at an all-time high. But so are package thefts.
While it’s often suggested that you have packages delivered to your work, that’s not going to work so well these days. One solution is to install a secure package lockbox for your home.
I would also suggest that you call the police if something is stolen. While they may not be able to roll out for every theft report, they do make note of the suspect and the items were taken. Should they come across the suspect with stolen goods in hand, the report makes it much easier to get the item back to you.
If you have photos like Mr. Huey, the police may be able to ID the thief. Most of the time they are pretty familiar with the active petty criminals.
