Police say Thieves Targeting Packages Left on Porches a Growing Problem

WHEELING -

You order it, you pay for it, and you anxiously await its arrival. Then the package is finally delivered to your porch, but a thief gets there first, and steals it. It's happening in Wheeling and nationwide.

The Reverends Jim and Theresa Kelley of St. Luke's Episcopal Church ordered two new clergy shirts. You can't buy them locally. They are a specialty item that must be ordered. Fed Ex says they delivered them to the Kelley's front porch, but the Kelleys never got them. And they aren't alone. Since the Christmas season, five packages have been reported stolen from porches in Wheeling.

"I want to say it probably happens more than we probably know," said Sgt. Gregg McKenzie of the Wheeling Police Department. "I don't believe everybody who has a package stolen reports it to the police. They might just call the postal service, they might call UPS, FedEx, whoever their package was shipped to."

Kelley has notified the shipper and the shirt company, and tracked the shipment.

"If it's not there and the website says it's there, then you have to start making phone calls, and it's been several days already, for two shirts," Kelley said.

But she has another worry. Those shirts could allow anyone, from a thief to a pedophile, to impersonate a minister.

"They could fall into the wrong hands. You know, we live in the different world today. I guess I don't want anybody to find these or to come up with them and use them inappropriately."

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Police say Thieves Targeting Packages Left on Porches a Growing Problem