WATSONVILLE—Watsonville police are warning the public to be on the lookout for holiday package thieves, and are suggesting a few simple safeguards to stop theft.
The issue came to the forefront this holiday season when a resident recorded a daylight burglary from her Watsonville residence earlier this month.
“Here you can see when they’re actually pulling up all the way in, ” said Connie Vazquez, as she described the surveillance footage from earlier this month. “She takes two packages and then comes back for the other two.”
Vazquez said it took about 30 seconds for a young woman to snatch four packages that had been delivered outside her porch. The second half of the video shows the young woman getting in the passenger side of a white/silver Nissan SUV, which then pulls out of the driveway and leaves the area.
“First we actually laughed. We’re like, ‘what, like really?” Vazquez said. “This really happened. We saw it again and I showed my husband and yeah, they really took them.”
Aside from having outside surveillance systems, police say there are other ways to protect yourself from holiday thieves.
“They can have the package delivered to work, schedule a delivery, buddy up with a neighbor or require a signature,” said Watsonville Police Det. Gustavo Zamora.
Vazquez said the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office is working to track down the porch pirate and her getaway driver.
“It’s just upsetting because we should be looking out after each other,” Vazquez said.
