TORONTO -- A South Carolina man was arrested on Friday after he showed up to court wearing the same shirt he had worn to steal people’s packages the same week, authorities said.
Police say they were made aware of the incident when a community member posted surveillance footage of the suspect in the Goose Creek Resident Group on Facebook on Nov. 10.
“Beware of this porch pirate!” the post begins. “This is around noon today in The Oaks. Notice the empty Amazon package in his hand. It is something he stole off a neighbor’s porch and threw the empty package in my trash can (dumb crook) - and then stole the package off my porch (all on camera) and stuffed it in his backpack, with whatever else he had stolen in the neighborhood. He was with a second person also on a bicycle. Police have been notified.”
Authorities confirmed they were able to identify and arrest the man the next day after he showed up in a South Carolina courtroom wearing the exact same shirt he had worn to steal people’s packages.
“Remember seeing the post on the left?” remarked the Goose Creek Police Department in a statement posted to Facebook on Nov. 13. “Well, sometimes people actually do make our job easy. This guy decided to come into our courtroom the day after the first post was made and lucky for us he was even wearing the same shirt. We are happy to say he is in custody.”
Police have not released any additional details about the arrest and have not confirmed why he was in the courtroom to begin with or if his appearance had anything to do with the stolen packages.
Authorities say the best way to keep packages safe is to request a signature upon delivery so they aren't left at the door. If that’s not possible, police suggest having your package shipped to a neighbour or relative who will be home or to use curb-side pickup.
