Theft victim sends out warning during holiday shopping season

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - It's that time of the year, holiday shopping season, and Chad Flanigan is no different than any of us.

The Tucson man, who lives on the east side near Pantano Road and Pima Street, ordered an item online and waited patiently for the delivery.

The shipping company said the package was d ropped off on Nov. 15. But when he never saw it, he checked his security cameras on Nov. 24.

"We went back, and we looked at the video," Flanigan told Tucson News Now.

He said he put up the seven security cameras around his home after one of his cars was broken into and his stuff was stolen.

"I thought it's time to just keep an eye on my property," he said.

What he saw this time around brought him feelings of utter surprise. The target: The small, brown package that was left on a bench just outside his front door.

The footage shows an unidentified woman driving her white Chevy SUV past his house twice. She eventually stops in the middle of the street, quickly walks to his front door, picks the package up, gets back in her car, and drives off.

According to the time-stamp on Flanigan's footage, the package was delivered at 5:05 p.m. on Nov. 15. The thief swiped the package from his doorstep at about 5:53 p.m.

The entire ordeal took about 25 seconds, from the time the woman parked until she drove off, and left Flanigan feeling a wide range of emotions.

"At first, we went through the regular anger, violated-type feeling," he said. "Now it's like, well, it's only stuff. I feel bad for the woman if she has to go around and do that."

Flanigan filed the police report.

But he also wanted to make sure others knew of the pitfalls of package thieves.

He posted the surveillance photos to Facebook. Within a day, the post had thousands of shares and hundreds of comments from curious individuals.

"Just getting the word out. I was, literally, surprised at how many people looked at that and shared it and commented on it."

Flanigan even shared other options for people to be aware of so their gifts don't sit at the front door.

"A word of advice if ordering from Amazon, they provide safe boxes around the city where your package can be delivered, QT on Broadway near Camino Seco is one of them," Flanigan said in the Facebook caption.

He told his troubling tale to be a good neighbor.

"We like it quiet, we like our neighbors, and we like to watch out for each other."

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