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North County package thief delivers previously stolen boxes to new targets

Posted at 5:49 PM, Sep 13, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-13 20:49:05-04

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A package thief is targeting homes in the Inland North County, and using a very strange MO in the process.

Rancho Bernardo resident Patti McCord arrived home to find a package on her porch. Because she had been expecting a package, she initially had no suspicions.

But she soon realized the package was not hers and was addressed to someone else.

McCord decided to bring that package to its owner. She drove to the home, located a few miles away in 4s Ranch. The man the package was addressed to opened the box to find it empty, his valuables stolen. But then he revealed that he, too, had found a package on his porch addressed to a different person.

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McCord continued to follow the trail, this time to a different part of Rancho Bernardo. When she spoke with the third victim, they had the exact same story of finding a package with a different address. McCord went to the fourth home, but when no one answered the door, gave up.

"Our hope was that somewhere along the way, our package might be in that mix, but we never found it," McCord said.

McCord suspects that perhaps the thief is following the Post Office delivery truck to find packages, then carries the previously stolen box to the door so they can pretend to be a delivery person if someone questions them.

"If someone's following the mail truck, they need to come up with a plan to stop that from happening," she said.