Porch Pirate steals sentimental package, woman says

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – With the holiday season here, packages are arriving on stoops across the U.S. However, Zoe Cantu from Rochester has a warning unrelated to Christmas presents.

A porch pirate stole a package that contained Cantus’ late grandmother’s items. Some of the items included sweaters, old letters, and cookbooks.

“My grandmother passed away in June of this past year, we were very close,” Cantu said. “And my aunts had gotten together and divided up belongings between the family members.”

Cantu has gone door to door recruiting her neighbors to help find the porch pirate, even making flyers. She says she really doesn’t care who took the package, she just wants it returned.

“She had sent me the package and it was supposed to arrive here on November 17th,” Cantu said. “I had figured it had just gotten delayed, so I didn’t check into it right away. The package itself had different sweaters that I had asked to have, you know something that had the scent of her home”.

Rochester Police Department (RPD) has reported at least six packages have been stolen this season in Rochester. They say they have patrol officers out when the delivery trucks are out, keeping an eye on the neighborhood and encouraging neighbors to call them if they see something suspicious.

RPD is also not allowing packages to be sent to the station this year, instead encouraging people to keep the package at the carrier to pick it up there or ship it to the store if someone is ordering something expensive and knows they won’t be home.

“If you’re out shoveling your walk and the FedEx truck comes down the street, look out for your neighbors,” said RPD Captain Jeff Stilwell. “Community is a big part to preventing crime, looking out for each other is something we encourage every day.”

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