By Mara H. Gottfried

Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

ST. PAUL — When a St. Paul resident realized a Christmas present she bought online for her husband hadn’t arrived, he checked their home’s video surveillance system.

What Sean Morell saw shocked him: A deliveryman had left the package between his screen and front doors, but another man came onto his West Seventh-area porch eight minutes later. The man glanced around him and took the box in seconds.

Morell’s camera system captured a clear image of the man’s face, and he posted a screenshot of it to his neighborhood Facebook page with the hope it will lead to police questioning the man.

“Theft is despicable and that’s an unwanted invasion of private property that is not acceptable to me,” Morell wrote.

St. Paul police said Monday they have Morell’s surveillance video and are investigating.

While exact numbers aren’t available, St. Paul police Sgt. Mike Ernster said package thefts spike during the holidays because many people order gifts online and have them delivered to their homes.

“The opportunity for these thefts is at an all-time high, and thieves are taking advantage of it,” Ernster said.

Last week, prosecutors charged five people in package-theft cases in Ramsey County. Two of those charged were identified because homeowners had video surveillance systems.

In one instance, on Dec. 16, residents of three St. Paul homes near Beaver Lake reported packages stolen.

One resident had video surveillance and officers recognized the suspect “from numerous prior contacts,” according to a criminal complaint charging Manee Yang, 37, of St. Paul, with three counts of mail theft.

After his arrest, Yang denied to police that he stole the packages, but said he’d driven a man around who’d taken them, the complaint said.

Also charged last week were Jennifer Hampton, 34, and Chad Bambach, 39, in Roseville package thefts in October. After the case was publicized, a relative of Hampton’s contacted police in December and identified her as the person caught on home surveillance video stealing the packages, according to Roseville police.

In Morell’s case, after their Christmas gift exchange, his wife told him she’d bought him another gift and inquired whether he’d seen the box delivered to their home on Oneida Street, near West Seventh Street. He had not, but Morell was curious about what happened. He looked back at video from a camera he installed outside their home.

On Dec. 23, about noon, Morell saw a man had taken the package with his gift, a Lucky Brand hooded sweatshirt, his wife told him. Morell reported it to police.

Morell got the exterior camera about four months ago, when he and his wife were having their home’s siding redone and someone had stolen a worker’s tools during a lunch break.

Since Morell posted the photo of the apparent package theft on Facebook, he said a few people have come forward and provided him with a name — and they’ve consistently told him the same name. He said he’s contacted police about the information.