Delivery driver takes packages from Cobb County home after they were delivered, police say

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County Police want shoppers to be vigilant this holiday season as they are noticing a slight uptick in package thefts throughout Cobb County.

Police are currently looking for a delivery driver who was captured on security cameras stealing packages after he delivered them to a home in Smyrna.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell spoke with Meredith Holt with the Smyrna Police Department on Monday. She said this was a delivery driver working for a third-party company to make deliveries for other companies.

“He took the packages that they had just delivered to the home and left,” said Holt.

Police say the man picked the packages up from Home Depot and did everything right when he delivered, but he’s now charged with a crime for what police say he did afterward.

The victim in the case was refunded for the stolen merchandise.

A woman says a man wearing an Amazon vest stole packages from her Powder Springs home in October.

She says she filed a police report but investigators haven’t landed on any leads. It’s also unclear if the man actually worked for Amazon.

It was a timeline of events Sara Ritchey says she didn’t expect as she watched it all play out on her security cameras in real-time.

Ritchey saw a FedEx driver drop the first package off properly and watched an Amazon driver deliver the second package correctly.

“He delivers it, puts it where he’s supposed to,” said Ritchey. “Amazon shows up 30 minutes later, delivers our product, takes a picture, closes the order out. As he pulls away you see another gentleman, a completely different gentleman, in an Amazon vest walking toward our house. He grabs the drinks and grabs the cell phone and he walks off. You feel like you’ve been violated. Your privacy has been violated.”

TRENDING STORIES:

• Did you update your iPhone? Here’s why police are saying you need to check your settings
• Jimmy Carter plans to attend Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service. Here are the other guests
• DUI driver hits two women in Gwinnett mall parking lot, then causes 6-car crash, police say

Ritchey says the company re-delivered the products that were stolen. The victim in the first case, told police she was refunded for the stolen items.

Police say there are things consumers can do to protect themselves.

“Have a required signature upon delivery of the package so someone is immediately there,” said Holt.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

IN OTHER NEWS:

Woman groped by man on electric scooter at Gwinnett Walmart, police say

©2023 Cox Media Group