SAN ANTONIO — Abigail Kasten stepped outside her front door Wednesday afternoon expecting to pickup her vital Amazon packages in preparation to see her ailing father in California. But, the parcels were nowhere to be found. That's where Ring doorbell camera video revealed what happened.
“I was always raised you don’t take something that’s not yours,” said Abigail Kasten.
Kasten works three jobs to support her family, including disabled adult son in the Braun Willow subdivision on San Antonio’s northwest side. She stressed ordering items off Amazon and other online outlets is crucial and convenient.
Kasten said she was working from home when the incident occurred. But at the time, she didn’t know someone had taken off with her latest batch of packages at around 12:30 p.m., which was 30 minutes after the Amazon courier placed them on her porch.
It wasn’t until later in the day when Kasten realized the packages were not there, despite the Amazon notification indicating they had been delivered.
“This is the Ring video when the gentleman came, was piling everything up and that was him running off,” Kasten said. “I was fussing at my dogs to be quiet, which now I feel bad about.”
Ring doorbell video captured the moments a man wearing a cap and shorts quickly collected the packages and ran off through Kasten’s yard to a vehicle parked along Autumn Sunrise near Autumn Dew.
Kasten can’t believe someone would have the guts to steal her Amazon packages in the middle of the day.
“I feel violated because this is my home, this is my property,” Kasten said.
Kasten bought the items in preparation for a trip to California where her father lives.
“I ordered these items because sadly I have to fly out Wednesday who is having some medical issues with cancer and the outlook isn’t the greatest,” Kasten said. “His doctor told him he probably only has days, weeks, maybe months.”
Kasten filed a police report with the hopes of catching the individual and getting her money back from Amazon.
She also shared what happened on Nextdoor so others can keep an eye out for the man shown in the Ring doorbell video.
"The police department did indicate that they were getting a lot of reports of people stealing right after Amazon delivers," Kasten said. “It’s getting ready to be Christmas and these porch pirates are going around stealing people’s stuff."
As for the future, Kasten is going to have to reassess the protocol for when packages arrive so she doesn’t become a victim once again.
“All the precautions that I take with the cameras and the stickers and the dogs, I was like more can I do now? What is left so that I can feel safe again because I have to continue doing these orders.”