Package thief strikes Modesto home minutes after mailman leaves

Kelly Cadinha was on her way home to Modesto from an overnight trip Wednesday morning when her security system sent an alert to her phone notifying her someone was on her porch.

It was the mailman delivering the baseball hats she’d ordered for her son, but three minutes later another alert came through. This time, a woman wearing a white crop top, whom she didn’t know, was on her porch.

The woman grabbed the mail out of the mailbox near the front door then the package from the ground and ran down the path in the front yard as a silver pickup rolled up to the sidewalk.

The woman got in the passenger side and the pickup took off.

The woman and the driver might have been watching the mailman make his rounds because she had what appeared to be other mail stuffed in the front of her pants.

Cadinha said she reported the theft, which occurred at her home on Plaunt Drive at 10:38 a.m., to Modesto Police.

Anyone with information about the woman or the vehicle can call Modesto Police at (209) 572-9551.

This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 12:29 PM.