TOLEDO, Ohio — Stay Alert — That's the warning from a local woman, who says as Christmas day approaches, thieves are getting bolder and bolder. Her doorbell camera caught her delivery getting snatched in broad daylight.
"We are living in such times now, where you really have to be careful," Linda Ransey said.
Ransey is offering words of advice after falling victim to a crime on the rise.
"Our package is gone just like that," she said.
A porch pirate struck her home in south Toledo just over a week ago. The crime went unnoticed until a neighbor showed up with an envelope dropped off at his house.
"He was telling me, this was left at his door, but it had our name on it and it was open. And I'm thinking - that's strange," Ransey said.
The odd discovery prompted Ransey to review footage from her doorbell camera. That's when she realized someone had been watching her home.
The video captured a woman with an opened envelope in hand, strolling up to the front door less than 20 minutes after a mail delivery.
"She looks around like she is looking for something, she all of sudden picks up my package. Drop the blank envelope – and go get into her car and go on down the street. This was broad daylight, and for this woman to do this – I really feel sorry for her," Ransey said.
Ransey quickly filed a police report for the crime, which now has her on high alert.
A new study shows she's not alone. Nationwide, nearly one in five Americans are either a victim of porch piracy or knows someone who is.
"We, of course, would not recommend delivering anything to your home when you're not going to be there," Lt. Kellie Lenhardt of the Toledo Police Department said.
Local police say tracking your packages and having them delivered to your job or even a pickup location can help prevent them from getting into the wrong hands. An important tip Ransey plans to use in the future as police work to track down the woman who targeted her.
"I don't want anything bad to happen to her, I really don't. I would just like for her to stop, for her safety and for the safety of someone else," she said.
A new law in Michigan makes repeat porch piracy offenses a felony. In Toledo, a similar law that punishes offenders depending on the value of the package is already in place.
Police say if you see something odd or out of place in your neighborhood say something.