You're an Idiot': There's a Thief Going Around Houston Stealing Packages From Porches -- but the Joke Seems to Be on Her

The fact that a thief managed to waltz away from his front porch with a package containing nearly valueless items doesn't quell Thomas Helgoth's anger one iota.

“I hate thieves. I hate them with a passion,” he told KHOU-TV in Houston. “You don’t take things from people that you didn’t earn."

Helgoth is one of several residents of a Houston neighborhood who've had enough of their deliveries getting stolen — even though the packages haven't exactly contained wads of cash or boxes of jewels.

Image source: KHOU-TV

The rip-offs so far? A pair of plastic containers used for wine fermentation, curling irons, and tile samples, KHOU reported.

And for all those high-powered heists, Helgoth now has video of the alleged perp.

Footage shows a car pulling into a driveway about 40 minutes after a package delivery to Helgoth's residence on Monday and a woman emerging from the vehicle.

“She got out of the car, flipped her long hair, put her hoodie on and walked right up,” he noted.

The tape shows the woman peering into Helgoth's window, bending down, picking up the package, then walking back to the car, which appears to contain two other people.

The package with two plastic bottles Helgoth ordered was dumped nearby, found by a neighbor, and returned to him, KHOU said.

“You’re an idiot," declared Helgoth regarding the woman who took the packages. "You just stole two basically plastic bottles, something you’re not even going to use.

"We have the vehicle. We have the shot of your face. So I’ll see you in court.”

Screenshot of alleged thief caught on surveillance video. (Image source: KHOU-TV)

Others in the Summerwood neighborhood told KHOU that at least three packages have been taken from porches recently in recent weeks — so they're banding together to end the petty thievery.

“I now take the time to go outside two or three times a day, just to look, to see if there’s someone somewhere they shouldn’t be,” neighbor Mary Jane McKinney told KHOU after her package was taken last week and later found cut open.

“It looked like an electronics box, but it wasn’t an iPad, wasn’t a laptop," said McKinney. "It was curling irons, and they left it next door."

Another theft involved a package of tile samples.

“They will get caught," said McKinney. "We will catch them.”

Here's a report from KHOU:

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