In Police District 3, southeast Denver, 14 thefts have been reported since Jan. 1, and police said they suspect there are many that haven’t been reported.

“This is a crime of opportunity,” said Denver Police Cmdr. Joe Montoya. “There could be a group of people responsible for a series of them, but I don’t think they’re all connected.”

Montoya said the thieves may be following delivery trucks or walking or driving through neighborhoods looking for packages.

One Denver homeowner, who only wished to be identified as Bill, caught one thief on a surveillance camera stealing $200 worth of photography equipment from his front porch in southeast Denver.

“I had known there was a package coming from UPS, so I waited the whole morning for it,” said Bill. “We started getting hungry, and we were gone for exactly an hour for lunch.”

That was long enough, he said, for UPS to drop off the package and the thief to pick it up and walk away — all caught on camera.

“People say when someone breaks in you feel violated. I felt the same way,” said Bill, who has since added another security camera so if the thief comes by again, there will be a better view of his face.

Police said they do not think the recent cases are connected to our story about porch-package thief caught on camera earlier this month, who was identified by a 7NEWS viewer. 

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