Man caught on video trying to steal package from Maple Shade home in custody: Police
"You know you're on camera, right?" the homeowner told the suspect through her Ring camera.
MAPLE SHADE, New Jersey (WPVI) -- The man first captured on camera by a Maple Shade, New Jersey homeowner in the act of stealing a package from her porch has now been captured by police.
Police said 53-year-old Ernest Adkins was arrested and charged on Friday for offenses committed in Pennsauken, the town where he lives.
After an investigation between Pennsauken and Maple Shade police departments, Adkins was also charged with one count of theft from the porch incident which took place on December 7.
The video, captured by Rosa Chaves' Ring camera, showed a man attempting to remove a package from the front porch of her home on N. Chestnut Avenue around 1 p.m.
The man was seen wearing a ski mask and carrying a shopping bag.
In the video, the man takes the package and puts it in his shopping bag. Chaves then speaks to him through the camera prompting the man to put the package back down.
"You know you're on camera, right?" Chaves says.
"Yeah, I was bringing your package to you ma'am," the man replies.
"You need to put it back," Chaves says.
"It's right there, ma'am," the man says before walking away.
Chaves said she waited a few seconds to say something to make sure the man wasn't there for a legitimate reason.
"It wasn't what I expected. He clearly wasn't afraid to get caught," she said.
Maple Shade police said they were shocked by the video, particularly by the suspect's decision to leave the package behind.
Adkins was serviced with a summons pending a future court date in January on the Maple Shade theft charge.
"The Maple Shade Police Department values our working relationship with all of our neighboring police agencies," Maple Shade Police Chief Christopher Fletcher said in a statement on Saturday
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The above video is from an earlier version of this story.
