Wanted: Possum porch pirate snatches package from Fairfield home

She was at home Monday night when she got an alert that her package had arrived. When she checked her front step, nothing was there.

News 12 Staff

Dec 2, 2021, 3:23 AM

Updated 1,045 days ago

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It's that time of year again - when police put out warnings to protect people from porch pirates, but this one may be a first.
Betsy Lockhart was waiting for a package from Amazon - white gold hoop earrings she bought after getting her ears re-pierced.
She was at home Monday night when she got an alert that her package had arrived. When she checked her front step, nothing was there.
"We've got our Arlo camera. So I pulled up the camera to look and see," said Lockhart.
Lockhart found the culprit was a critter.
"There was this little possum who came out and the little porch pirate that he is, grabbed it and went off to the side and you could hear him chomping away at it," said Lockhart. "And then he just moves out of site and the package was gone."
Lockhart says her husband went out with a flashlight thinking the possum had dropped the package nearby but found nothing. She's now asked the neighbors to keep any eye out.
"Some of the neighbors know the possums because they kind of cut through everybody's yards, but there's been no sign of it so it's gone," said Lockhart.
It turns out this possum porch pirate actually observed the place Sunday, sniffing out the situation. There is video from the night before he struck and from Tuesday when he returned to the scene of the crime.
"He came back looking for more," Lockhart said. "My father was a UPS executive so, up in heaven, he's laughing at me on this one for sure."
As for whether she has new hoops on the way: "I have to figure out how to reach out to Amazon and explain that I have a possum porch pirate. I don't know if I have to file a police report for that and I'm not quite sure how that phone call would go but we'll see what happens," she says.
Lockhart says her friends have been having fun with this. They have even made up "wanted" posters for the possum.