Cranberry Township police warning residents of thieves stealing packages during the holidays

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A family’s package was stolen off their front porch in the middle of the day minutes after it was delivered. Cranberry Township police said they see an increase in these cases during the holidays and have a warning for families.

“Sometimes that’s the most exciting part of the day is waiting for the package to come in and then the next moment it’s gone,” Leah Comstock said.

Channel 11 spoke with the Kosakowski family in the Briar Creek neighborhood along Carlye Drive. The family said the thief was caught on video stealing a package from their front porch. It happened Monday around noon in broad daylight.

“It just upsets me I paid for it and no one has the right to take packages from someone’s doorsteps,” Stacey Kosakowski said.

The wife said this happened just five minutes after FedEx delivered the package and thinks the delivery driver was being followed.

“They were in a red hooded sweatshirt that covered their head green pants and brown shoes and grabbed the package just ran away and they hopped in a car,” Kosakowski said.

The family says the thief then drove away in this dark SUV. They reported the incident to police. They also shared the information on social media to warn other families. Police are aware of other similar incidents in the area.

“I have packages scheduled to be delivered now I have to worry about somebody taking them off my front porch,” Kosakowski said.

With an uptick in porch pirate thefts during the holiday season, experts say there are steps you can take if your package is stolen. File a police report, notify your credit card company, file a claim with the shipping company and reach out to the retailer to see if they can replace the item.

“I’m constantly ordering stuff from Amazon, Target for friends and family, so there are packages on my porch and I want to make sure it’s not taken and is safe,” Comstock said.

To protect your packages police also suggest getting tracking notifications requiring a signature for delivery and doing in-store pick-up for online orders.

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