SAN ANTONIO — A license plate could lead San Antonio police to the people Ken Raimondi caught stealing a package from his home in the Ridgeview East neighborhood on January 27.
The thieves are captured on a recording from his doorbell video camera. A man is shown exiting a white minivan with two black rims on the back tires. The stranger makes his way down Raimondi's driveway before snatching a package off his front porch. Raimondi's said the man appears to become startled after getting ahold of the bag but casually walks it off by waving to the next door neighbor.
"You can hear him mumbling something to someone in the van, obviously, he's not happy about the situation and the van takes off pretty quickly. All of this takes place in under 20 seconds," said Raimondi.
Raimondi wasn't home at the time but watched the man steal the package on his doorbell's mobile app. He said immediately after the minivan left, he contacted police and filed a report.
Raimondi said neighbors have also posted about the porch pirates on the neighborhood's Nextdoor website. After viewing their doorbell videos, he realized the same white van with the black rims appeared to be showing up at other houses nearby and outside the neighborhood. In two videos, a man gets out and grabs the packages, and in another video, a woman retrieves the items.
"Those are the two people we have seen with that van," he said.
While they only got away with a $20 water bottle from Raimondi's house, he's worried they could get away with more precious items from other neighbors.
"I have neighbors that have prescriptions mailed to them and that could be life or death for them. I also have a lot of neighbors who, if a stranger shows up at their house and robs them, they are gonna handle things a little differently," Raimondi said.
He hopes police will receive the right tip that could lead them to the people in the videos. In this case, a license plate would be the most helpful.
For now, Raimondi wants these people to know the neighborhood is keeping a close eye out.
“My hope is that they understand that and analyze the risk they are taking, and make better choices.”