CLEVELAND — Mentor police last week arrested a man who was caught on camera taking an Amazon package from a woman's porch.
According to a media release from the Mentor Police Department, a 23-year-old man with no fixed address "admitted to the theft and was arrested." The man also had a warrant for his arrest in Euclid for a previous assault charge.
Police say on March 11, a Mentor resident received a notification of a porch pirate taking her package, consisting of three notebooks, gel pens and a bible, shortly after it was delivered. Doorbell camera footage shows the man run into the passenger seat of a car and exit the parking lot.
The woman immediately forwarded the doorbell camera footage to police. Surveillance footage from the resident's apartment complex helped officers identify the getaway car's make, model and plate number. According to police, there were two men in the car.
The next day, the police department's Flock camera system "turned up multiple hits of the suspect vehicle" in Willoughby and a detective found the car parked at a Mr. Chicken restaurant on Euclid Avenue.
Police say officers saw two men leave the resident 20 minutes later, one of them matching the suspect's physical appearance.
A detective interviewed the suspect.
"As he was interviewing the suspect, the second male returned to the lot, noticed the detective's POLICE vest and promptly left the area," police said.