Age 6 Boy Forced to Steal Packages Left at Front Door. And It Wasn't by His Parent
Online shopping has steadily been on the rise in recent years, and as a result, more and more residences may be seen with packages sitting on the porch.
But with that trend of home delivery of goods has come another, not so nice, trend.
All of those packages sitting on porches has attracted the criminal element. Nationwide, there is a “porch pirate” trend of crooks making off with packages left at residences.
One case of such a theft also came with a shocking discovery.
A Deltona, Florida, homeowner discovered his package was missing and looked through security camera footage to see if he could find out what happened, reported Fox 13.
What he saw shocked him and the police. It wasn’t just the car that pulled up with dark tinted windows, but the culprit who got out of the car to grab the package.
Volusia Co. Sheriff Mike Chitwood summed it up for everyone, “I think everybody rubbed their eyes and said, ‘Are we really seeing what we’re seeing?’” The package thief was a 6-year-old boy.
The porch pirate theft trend hits a new low as cops say a 6-year-old boy was forced to steal a package. https://t.co/9ZPdIIsx2Z pic.twitter.com/0TD85yVh7W
— Inside Edition (@InsideEdition) January 19, 2018
Chitwood told Fox 13 that the shocking revelation created a change in the investigation. It was no longer just about a stolen item.
For Chitwood, the use of a young child made things that much worse.
“The whole investigation focused on let’s find out who’s in that car because clearly they’re using a young kid to go out and commit theft.”
Police got to work on identifying the vehicle in the video footage. Once they were able to do that, identifying the driver gave them another shock.
As bad as things had appeared to that point, what police discovered about the rest of the story was even worse. It was a parent’s nightmare.
According to Inside Edition, the boy had been forced to steal the package by the woman who had been trusted with his care. Twenty-year-old caregiver Santana Lindsey had used the young boy to grab the goods.
When confronted by police, Lindsey retrieved the stolen package, a $30 garage door opener battery, from her car and gave it to the detectives.
The grateful homeowners were able to eventually get their item back.
Lindsey has been charged with the burglary, but that is not all. She has also been charged with child neglect and with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
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