Porch pirates: Austin man says neighborhood targeted this holiday season

AUSTIN, Texas - An Austin man is warning others: his neighborhood appears to be the target of a group of "Porch pirates" this holiday season.

"December is the most prevalent month of the year where burglaries occur here in Austin," said CPL. Jose Mendez, Austin Police Department.

Tis the season for holidays gifts but with that also comes porch pirates.

"It's a communal mail room. We have secure lockers, but some of the overflow packages can sometimes go on to the rack that we have behind us. And so that rack can get overfilled and basically becomes a target for thieves," said Mike Dawson, resident at Cascade Condominiums and President of HOA.

Dawson says the Cascade Condominiums on West Campus have been hit with package thefts multiple times by the same group of people. He says a ton of packages vanished a few weeks ago and was shocked at what he discovered.

"We went back to look at our camera footage, realized that we had some children who had essentially came in, stuffed packages under their shirts and walked out the front door. They came back a week later to get more packages," said Dawson.

Dawson says the thieves gained access to the building after previously door dashing to the condos, since residents will typically share the keypad entry with their delivery drivers.

"I think that was the biggest shock, the fact that it was children who look like they were just of average age, 9 or 10, being forced to come in and take packages was a shocker for the community," said Dawson.

Dawson says $3-$5,000 of valuables were stolen. He says Cascade Condos has since taken steps to try and curtail the thefts.

"Limited access after-hours to ensure that we can block some of the delivery drivers from gaining access to the building without calling a resident directly, having them come down or using a directory keypad entry so we know who's coming in," said Dawson.

There are things you can do to keep your packages safe this holiday season.

APD recommends scheduling pick-ups instead of having things delivered to your home address. If that's not an option, consider having it delivered to a less obvious spot on your property. 

"If you do have things delivered to your home address, we ask that you coordinate with a neighbor or somebody that you trust to take care and custody of that package so it isn’t sitting out there all day," said CPL. Mendez.

For any non-emergency reports, contact 311 or report online at ireportaustin.com

Dawson says the incident has since been reported. 311 confirmed to FOX 7 Austin that the case was currently open.