A package thief struck a porch in the 2000 block of North Prieur Street and took off, and now New Orleans Police want help tracking the suspect down. The department put out a public call this week, asking anyone with information to come forward.
According to a New Orleans Police Department Facebook post, officers are asking the public's assistance with identifying and locating a suspect wanted for package theft. The post describes the suspect removing a package from a residence porch in the 2000 block of North Prieur Street before fleeing the scene. No suspect description, incident date, or details about what was inside the package were included in the department's post.
Elsewhere in New Orleans, the department was trying to identify and arrest a suspect accused of stealing a dresser that had been delivered to a home, the station's report on that case noted. Police said that theft happened around 11 a.m. on Sunday, July 19, when a man took a large box that had been delivered to a home in the 1900 block of North Johnson Street.
A String of Similar Porch Thefts Around the City
Mid-City has also seen its share of porch pirates this year. A separate investigation in that neighborhood tied the same woman to two distinct alleged thefts 25 days apart, as reported by WGNO. Police said the first case happened around 4:45 p.m. on June 25 in the 600 block of South Murat Street, where a package containing workout clothing and cat toys was taken from a home's porch, while the same suspect was later accused of stealing a $200 bicycle from a front porch in the 4600 block of Banks Street.
Other cases stretch back further and span different parts of the city. NOPD News once circulated a notice seeking a suspect wanted for stealing a package on North Bernadotte Street, a bulletin that remains posted on the department's site. And in a more recent case detailed by FOX 8, investigators said two people worked together to pull off a theft: at about 11:39 a.m. on Jan. 25, one person kicked a package away from a victim's door while a second picked it up and fled toward the area of Willow and Oak Streets.
What Comes Next
None of those earlier cases have been established as connected to the North Prieur Street incident, and the evidence available does not indicate whether a suspect has since been identified, located, or arrested in any of them. For now, the department is directing anyone with information about the North Prieur Street theft to contact NOPD Fifth District detectives or report anonymously via Crimestoppers as the investigation continues.
