Package thefts became a trend in Chicago during the holiday season, but that trend is apparently continuing into the New Year after a home in Roscoe Village was targeted twice in one week.
Last Monday afternoon, a United States Postal Service carrier dropped off five packages at a home in the 200 block of West Melrose.
“I got the delivery notice from Amazon, got home from work, the packages weren’t there,” said resident Damian Jacoby.
Jacoby said he checked his surveillance footage and noticed someone surveying his front porch a half hour after the packages were dropped off.
“He looked like he saw the camera at first and then walked away and came back a few minutes later and had his face covered up,” Jacoby said.
Video showed the man walking up to the porch with two empty-looking shopping bags and leaving the porch with objects in the bags.
“I just felt betrayed and violated,” Jacoby said. “That somebody that potentially lives in our neighborhood would feel free to just come up and take someone’s packages.”
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The packages consisted of tea for Jacoby’s wife to help with her breastfeeding and pesticide.
Then, Jacoby said the same thing happened again over the weekend.
“He must have really liked the tea because he came back on Saturday and snagged the tea replacement,” he said.
Jacoby posted video of the purported thefts on YouTube, hoping neighbors or fellow Chicagoans will help identify the alleged thief.
“I really don’t want my kids to grow up in a neighborhood where that kind of stuff is accepted,” Jacoby said. “It’s probably not just us that it’s happened to so I felt like we needed to get this out there.”
UPS has offered tips for residents to avoid package thefts, including requiring a signature on your deliveries or having packages dropped off at the nearest pick-up facility.
