As Holidays Near, Grinches Stealing Packages Seconds After Deliveries

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- As the holiday season approaches, delivery drivers are increasingly being tailed by thieves, who swipe packages from doorsteps within seconds.

As CBS 2's Dave Carlin reported, a surveillance video from a home in Mapleton, Brooklyn, last Thursday, shows a UPS worker leaving a package on the porch, and less than a minute later, a woman jumps out of her white minivan and steals the package.

Homeowner Norman Brodt said he is stunned by the brazen 5 p.m. crime.

"Hopefully, the right surveillance is going to get them," he said.

Inside the box were women's shoes, size 7 1/2, valued at $105.

"My wife wanted to use (the shoes) for a party for a wedding," he said.

Brodt said he is also upset the UPS driver never rang the doorbell because he was home, he said, and there was no notice on the door saying to leave the package outside.

UPS has policies to prevent theft, and drivers told Carlin that during the holidays the rules are even more strict.

"This time of the year, we are not allowed to leave any packages at all," said UPS driver Uri Eshel.

Eshel said every driver is required to knock on doors, and he recommended that customers demand packages be released only with their signatures. Eshel said leaving packages on porches invites criminal behavior.

UPS has promised to reimbuse Brodt for the stolen package, he said.

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