Mission Viejo Resident Receives Police Apology: Update

MISSION VIEJO, CA — The Orange County Sheriff's Department is apologizing to a young man they suspected of swiping packages Thursday, they said over social media.

The accusation was a case of Ring Doorbell video gone wrong, they say. The boy in question was posting door flyers, not stealing anything, according to police.

"The individual in the post yesterday was identified, and our investigators verified he did NOT steal the package that was from the doorstep," a department spokesperson said.

How are they so sure? As an added gaff, no crime was committed. The missing package was found hidden, out of sight, on the porch in question.

The police are scheduled to meet with the lad Friday afternoon to formally apologize to him and his family.

"Our investigators reached out to the victim who later (said) the theft was unfounded," a spokesperson said.

OCSD Mission Viejo has asked the accusing party to remove the Ring App video.

"The person was not doing anything wrong and was just delivering flyers door to door," they told us.

Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig, photo

Editor's note: previous edition of this story claim boy was suspected of stealing. We have removed the image.