Midtowner Corey Twombly ordered her son a pair of new Hoka shoes, expecting them to be delivered to her home on Monday, Dec. 5. 

At 2:30 p.m. that day, Twombly said she received a SimpliSafe alert on her cellphone that someone was on her porch. 

Video footage from the home security app shows a man walking up to Twombly’s porch, grabbing her packages and then quickly driving away. 

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“He showed up exactly 15 minutes after FedEx dropped off the package,” Twombly said. 

Stories such as Twombly’s, in which packages are stolen from porches or near front doors, are numerous on the pages of the Mid-South area’s Nextdoor, a social networking service for neighborhoods. One Poplar Glen resident said their packages were gone before the Amazon van had rounded the corner; other posters have also talked about thefts occurring within an hour of a package being delivered. 

It was the first time Twombly had an item stolen from her porch. After she reported the crime to the Memphis Police Department, as well as the security camera footage, she also posted the video to Nextdoor. 

A neighbor told her that they, too, had a package stolen by the same person on the same day. 

“I have a feeling that (this person) is following the FedEx truck,” Twombly said. 

Twombly said she typically receives phone notifications when her packages are delivered. But since her office is 30 minutes away, she can’t always get home immediately. 

“The frustrating thing is that I usually work from home on Mondays,” Twombly said. “But I had to go in the office for a meeting,” Twombly said. 

As for her son’s gift, Twombly said neither Hoka nor FedEx would reimburse the $200 cost of the product, since both companies have evidence that the package was delivered. 

“We’re just out of $200,” Twombly said. “Luckily, he’s 16 years old, so he’s understanding. 

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Though so-called porch pirates are a popular topic on Nextdoor, MPD said they do not specifically track package thefts and could not provide any data on the trend. 

“However, this is a problem that does occur year-round and is a crime of opportunity,” MPD officer Joseph Hibler wrote in an email. “Individuals found responsible for the theft of a package are charged with theft of property for the amount of the item stolen.”

Evergreen residents Brantley Ellzey and Jim Renfrow also believe they were hit by porch pirates.

They make Christmas cards every year to send out and were expecting this year’s batch to arrive on Wednesday, Dec. 7. 

At 2:40 p.m. that day, the couple received a notification from UPS that their package had been delivered. But, when they checked moments later, there was nothing there. 

“We didn’t really think anything about it,” Ellzey said. “Because there have been times where we’ve gotten notified, and the package comes later in the day or the next day.”

Then Ellzey saw posts from several of his neighbors on Nextdoor about their packages being stolen. Video footage showed a child taking the packages from people’s front porches. 

“And I said, ‘Well, I wonder if that’s what happened to us,’” Ellzey said. 

After a few days had gone by, Ellzey realized the cards were gone.

“The most shocking aspect of the original post that I saw was the screen capture of a little kid. I couldn’t believe how young he was,” Ellzey said. 

The two chose not to file a police report, but they have placed a note on their front door for couriers that reads, “Knock loudly to let us know that a package is here.”

They are on the right track. 

The MPD’s Hibler said residents should arrange to have packages delivered when someone is at home or to have packages delivered to a workplace.

“Sign up for your delivery company’s package tracking service or consider selecting the ‘signature required’ option,” Hibler added. 

On its own social media posts, the City of Memphis is also providing “12 days of holiday safety tips.”