Porch pirate disguised as delivery driver steals kid’s medication

CHARLOTTE — A doorbell camera caught a porch pirate disguised as a delivery driver taking a package from a homeowner’s doorstep.

“It was probably about two minutes from the time that FedEx dropped it off to the time that he picked up the package,” said Carmen Peterson, victim.

The package contained her seven-year-old son’s life-saving seizure medication.

“It’s just heartbreaking that people, unfortunately -- they’re selfish,” Peterson said.

The video shows a man wearing a baseball cap and a high-visibility vest walking up to Peterson’s north Charlotte home with a box in his hand.

The thief grabbed the package from Peterson’s doorstep and left the box he walked up with.

“There’s no identifying information on it. It’s ripped at the top,” she said. “You can just see that it’s empty.”

Peterson thinks the man was trying to disguise himself as a delivery driver.

She has a message for the thief.

“I would just say is the juice really worth the squeeze on this? Because at the end of the day, you really could be, you know, doing something that could really cause harm,” Peterson said.

A pharmaceutical company is working to replace her son’s medication.

Picking out the criminals from legitimate delivery drivers is difficult, experts said.

‘Very challenging’

“Telling the difference between someone who’s delivering a package from a company, and those who might be trying to wear an outfit or uniform from another company can be very challenging to do,” said Ben Stickle, a criminal justice professor at Middle Tennessee State University.

Suspects are getting more creative and daring, Stickle said.

They sometimes follow package trucks around waiting for things to be delivered.

Charlotte is the seventh worst metro city for package theft in the U.S., according to SafeWise.

So far this year, there have been over 1 million incidents with over 152 million in damages.

Stickle said there are ways you can avoid becoming a victim.

“If you’re allowed to have it delivered to work, or if you could even have it delivered to a personal locker system or a business and pick it up,” he said.

Another option is to put a locked parcel locker on your front porch.

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