GREENSBORO, N.C. — A Greensboro family is warning others after six packages were stolen from their porch over the weekend.
Jeremy Albers, along with his wife and three kids, were out shopping Saturday afternoon when Nest doorbell video showed a man in a hoodie and a mask grabbing six packages from their home before driving off in a silver car.
"They came up and tried to grab all six and walk away. Two fell off of the guy's shoulder. He went to the car and dropped off the packages," Albers said. "Then he came back onto my lawn and picked up the other ones that he had dropped."
The family reported the incident to the police, who are still investigating.
Albers said about $300 worth of packages were taken. They got notifications that their packages had arrived and got suspicious when they returned home and didn't see them.
"It was kind of a combination of my wife’s orders, my orders and also family that was sending us gifts," Albers said. "It all just happened to stack on top of each other and became some booty for one of these pirates."
Albers believes other homes in the neighborhood may have been targeted too.
"They hit my neighbor as well. They took two pairs of shoes that were in a box and they hit the neighbor next to him as well, so two houses down," Albers said.
Other neighbors found scraps of the Albers' torn packages. None of the items have been recovered.
The Albers family said they are hopeful that the replacement gifts will arrive by Christmas. Now they hope to stop others from having their packages stolen.
"We were a little careless and allowed things to stay there. We thought it was a nice safe neighborhood. It just shows how anybody can get here at any time, so we all have to help each other," Albers said.
Experts advise you to schedule deliveries to arrive when you are home when possible or to ask a trusted neighbor to bring it in for you to pick up when you return.
You can also have your package sent to work or a more protected spot instead of your home.