‘They were little kids’: After pattern of package thefts, Spanaway neighbors confront small suspects

SPANAWAY, Wash. — Neighbors in Spanaway’s English Garden neighborhoods were noticing a recent uptick in reports of package thefts on the community’s Facebook page.

“It seemed like everybody were seeing posts that somebody’s package had been taken from their porch,” said Theresa Bickford, who noticed lately the suspects caught on home surveillance video appeared to be very young children on bikes who followed delivery trucks.

“I posted it on our Facebook group of our neighborhood and said someone just stole our package,” said Brian Bennett, who heard reports of the children swiping deliveries moments after they were placed on porches.

“I looked at my camera, and I could see them riding around, following a UPS truck,” Bennett said.

Neighbors who get packages delivered every day clearly noticed a pattern. After following delivery trucks, they saw one child post as a lookout, while one swiped the delivery. They shared the information with Pierce County deputies who opened an active investigation. Then last week, some neighbors approached the children when they were spotted in person.

“They said they didn’t do it,” said Bickford. “They started riding back home, and we just followed them. When I confronted them, there was only two of them. The other was out actually looking for a delivery driver at the time.”

When they presented the video evidence to the children, they got to the truth. “The little boy kept denying it, and the girl said, ‘Stop lying,’” said Bennett, who added that the children’s older brother and grandmother got involved.

“The older brother went inside, and he had the whole bag of all the stuff,” said Bennett, who was handed a bag with $180 worth of makeup the children had dumped from the box in a nearby park.

“They told their grandma that people were giving away new stuff on their porches, and they were going and getting it,” said Bickford. “Kids aren’t in school. They’re bored, and they’re out getting into trouble.”

Neighbors said they hope the children learned something from an entire community of parents.

“That was one of the discussions on the Facebook group,” said Bickford. “Like, ‘Hey, if this was my kid, I’d be marching them up to the doorstep, making them return the items, and they’d be mowing their lawns for the rest of the summer.’”

Cox Media Group