Surveillance Video Shows Man Using Child To Steal Package

MOUNT WASHINGTON (KDKA) -- Home surveillance video shows a man using a child to steal a package from a front porch in Mount Washington on Thursday afternoon.

The owner has several cameras mounted on his property -- one in front of the house, the other on the garage. Those cameras captured exactly what happened Thursday afternoon.

The home owner, who only wanted to be identified as Paul, works out of his home on Mount Washington on Haberman Avenue. Around 4 p.m. Thursday, he noticed movement around his property.

"I see two individuals walking up the road, a taller man and a little girl," Paul said, "and you can see him kind of gesture a little and point."

Paul told KDKA's Brenda Waters that he wasn't even aware he had a package at the front door. It was a surprise Father's Day gift from his wife. He continued to watch the surveillance footage.

"And the little girl does a bee line for the package, grabs it," Paul said. Paul pointed out that the little girl wasn't that much bigger than the package, so she had to grab it with both arms.

"She grabs the package, both arms, comes down the stairs and starts running after her dad," he said. "Her dad keeps walking. I assume it is her dad."

By that point, Paul was running down the stairs inside his house and outside.

"I said, 'hey, little girl, what are you doing? That's my package,'" he said. "She turned around and looked at me and said, 'That's heavy.' She said, 'I'm sorry.'"

Paul says the man kept walking.

"The dad turned around, he's about 20 yards ahead, and says, 'Oh, she must have thought it was empty. I didn't see her take the package.' And then I grabbed the package and she kept walking."

But the video clearly shows the man does see the child take the package. Paul says he did not call police because he did not want to involve the child and he got his package back. He does want to warn his neighbors.

He says he has seen the man and the child walking in the area before.

"It's sad. It saddens my heart."

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