GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County police have arrested two people they say stole packages from porches across Duluth over several weeks, using an Amazon vest to allegedly commit the crimes.
Doorbell cameras near the area of Satellite Boulevard and the area of Old Norcross Road captured the suspect repeatedly walking up to front doors and taking whatever had been delivered. Gwinnett County police say the footage made identification straightforward.
“It was easy to identify that it’s the same suspect when these people have these different brands of doorbell cameras and the person’s right there on camera walking up, taking packages from the front door,” said Cpl. Ryan Winderweedle of the Gwinnett County Police Department.
Lundyn Davis-Chapman spotted him on her camera near Satellite Blvd and noticed he was not choosing homes at random.
“I think he’s following the delivery vans around,” she said.
In one video, he hands a stolen box to a woman police say was working with him.
Detectives from Gwinnett County and Duluth police connected their cases and tracked the pair to a hotel room, where police say they found Lance Vance and Poalima Maheloma surrounded by stolen packages and the blue Amazon vest.
Vance is charged with felony porch piracy under Georgia’s new law targeting package theft. Maheloma faces a theft by receiving charge.
Police say at least five victims have been identified, but investigators recovered property from the hotel room that does not match any of those cases, meaning more victims may not yet know they were targeted.
“There is more victims,” Winderweedle said. “They have property from the search warrant that is not involved in these five victims they currently have.”
Detectives are still working to identify who some of those packages belong to.
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