MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two men have been charged in connection to thefts from porches in an East Memphis neighborhood. In both cases, packages were stolen while no one was home.
Memphis Police said though we’re approaching the season of gift-giving, there are things to do to make sure those gifts don’t wind up in the wrong hands.
“It’s November, and it’s the holiday season right now, so we assumed someone has stolen them,” East Memphis resident Summer Harp said.
Harp said it’s hard to keep that holiday spirit alive when someone steals packages off your front porch in broad daylight. That’s what happened Friday at Harp’s home on Cornelia Street, where Amazon dropped off a delivery from her brother.
“My brother, he called me and asked, ‘Were some packages delivered?'” Harp said. “I told him, ‘No,’ and he thought I was joking, but he really came by, and they were nowhere to be found. We even checked the backyard.”
Harp said she and her brother filed a police report and hoped for the best.
While on routine patrol Tuesday, police got a break in Harp’s theft and a porch theft two blocks away on Myrna Lane, when they stopped Nicholas Golliday and Jarvis Drain walking near Mallory and Perkins.
According to police, Golliday had a screwdriver in his pocket and took off running.
Police found a Google speaker still in the box not far from where they caught Golliday.
The affidavit stated that Drain told police he was with Golliday when he stole the speaker from a porch on Myrna Lane, as well as the package on Harp’s front porch.
Both men were charged with theft.
With the popularity of home deliveries, especially at this time of the year, Memphis Police have some tips to keep consumers from becoming victims.
“We don’t want this to become a bad Christmas season for anybody,” Memphis Police Col. Anthony Rudolph said.
It’s always best to be home while packages are being delivered, but there are still steps to take if you can’t be home.
“If you can’t, we would ask that maybe you could have the packages delivered to work, check with your boss and see if that’s an option for you,” Col. Rudolph said. “We ask that you have some kind of a tracking mechanism to know when it’s going to be delivered or maybe have it delivered to someone you know is going to be home. We don’t want this to become a bad Christmas season for anybody.”