EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. – Law enforcement will usually describe what a suspect was seen wearing to get tips from the public, but a package thief in California is getting attention for what she wasn’t wearing – a shirt.
“Today was actually kind of a cold day,” El Dorado County Sheriff’s Sergeant Anthony Prencipe told KTXL.
But the thief, caught on surveillance video, apparently worked up a sweat. Video shows the woman grabbing boxes from a porch twice within an hour. In her first appearance, she’s wearing an open winter coat.
After that, she ditches the outerwear.
“Usually you try to cover yourself up when you’re stealing stuff,” Sergeant Prencipe said. “This one was taking clothes off as she came in the second time.”
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office posted two surveillance clips to its Facebook page on Thursday and immediately began receiving tips – and jokes.
“Maybe there’s a shirt in one of those packages,” one said.
“Give her a nice orange jumpsuit,” another said.
But homeowner Heather doesn’t find it as amusing.
“It’s very hard for us because it’s right before New Year and it was our gifts to our children,” she said.
She and her family were expecting Thursday’s delivery to celebrate the Chinese New Year on Friday. Without the six stolen packages, she won’t have time to replace those gifts for her kids.
“It’s just kind of sad for us to see somebody would do that,” she said.
It turns out the thief’s bare midriff might help deputies identify her.
“We can see her belly button ring and her tattoo on the left shoulder,” Heather said.