Doorbell video, Facebook help nab porch thief

A woman who stole a package from a Fredonia front porch last Saturday  was quickly identified and tracked down thanks to neighbors communicating via social media.

“It was a great example of how the citizens can help themselves out,” Fredonia Village Marshall Mike Davel said.

According to Davel:

At about 4:45 p.m. Dec. 14, a woman was seen via a doorbell video walking back and forth past a house on Martin Drive where a package sat on the front porch.

The woman, carrying a McDonald’s restaurant cup, finally approached the house and rang the front doorbell twice, repositioned the package, looked around and then picked up the package and walked away.

Davel’s office was contacted, and Officer Dan Wolff tried to determine where the woman came from.

The video of the woman on the porch soon made it to social media.

“There’s a neighborhood Facebook chat group, and in about 15 minutes we were able to identify the woman,” Davel said. “It turned out she had purchased a car from someone in that group. Armed with that information, we were able to track her down.”

The woman worked in a group home on Lawrence Avenue in Fredonia, but before police arrived there, someone contacted her and tipped her off that police were on the way, Davel said. 

“She gave the package to another employee as a gift and then packed up and left,” Davel said.

Police called the woman at her home in Milwaukee “but she refused to come to the phone,” Davel said.

The group home also tried to contact her. And when she didn’t report for work on Sunday, the group home let her go, he said.

The item taken from the porch was worth about $40, Davel said.

The woman will be mailed two citations, for theft and trespassing, totaling $700 in fines.

Davel credited the neighbors and Wolff for resolving the case.

“The citizens provided the information that led to the arrest,” he said.

“Dan Wolff gave the victim his personal cell-phone number. He was leaving the station when she called him, and he did more follow-up.

“He worked on this thing Saturday night, and he could have come in on Sunday.”