Man tracks down stolen package through Facebook, surveillance footage

It's not unheard of these days for delivered packages to go missing, especially when so many people are buying potentially valuable gifts online. The delivery service drives up, leaves a box at your front door when no one answers, and someone nearby with ill intentions and a chance opportunity snatches the item and runs off. One man in Texas recently found himself in this situation, but through creative use of a surveillance camera and Facebook, he actually managed to track down and recover his package.

Jeff Turner says he ordered a Houston Rockets sweater for his son, which was delivered and left at his front door by FedEx. He also has a surveillance camera pointed at the entrance to his home, which easily captured footage of a stranger making their way up to the door and helping themselves to the package. Unfortunately identifying the thief was difficult, as he was wearing a baseball cap and had pulled a sweatshirt up to hide his face.

Turner told ABC News that as he continued to think about what had happened, the madder he became. He wanted to try tracking the culprit down, but didn't know where to start. He ended turning to everyone's favorite social network, Facebook, and shared a few screenshots of his video on the neighborhood watch page, asking if anyone recognized the person.

Shortly after, one of Turner's neighbors identified the suspect as a boy around the age of 12 that was mowing their lawn. When Turner went to the house, the neighbor said the kid had already rode off on his bike in a hurry, but left the package behind as well. Turner mentioned that he was pleased to get the sweater he ordered back, and had decided that he wouldn't be involving the police this time, but added that next time forgiveness wouldn't come so easily. Who knew crowd-sourcing your home security could lead to such quick results?

VIA CNet

SOURCE ABC News