Manchester Residents Save 1st Birthday Party After Porch Pirate Theft

MANCHESTER, CT — A porch pirate nearly ruined a Manchester girl's first birthday party, but community members relied to replace what was taken from a local family.

The girl's mother requested anonymity, but did share the details with Patch this week.

The local mom said she had ordered party supplies for her daughter's party and was anticipating their arrival. Lo and behold, the package was pilfered right off porch of the family's Manchester home.

Partly in anger and party in sarcasm, she wished the thieves well on a citizen-generated social media page dedicated to monitoring crime and safety issues in Manchester.

"I hope they enjoy the party hats," she said.

The post became flooded with comments that were far from idle complaints. Several residents rallied to replace the stolen items so the party could go on.

The mom said it was a happy ending, but also a grim lesson learned.

"I first felt devastated and was in disbelief that someone could take packages right off someone's front step," she said. "But after getting support from the community I felt very grateful and relieved."

It was not the first time such a thing happened to the family.

"A couple of years ago, my children's water table was stolen right out of your backyard — two days after we got it," the mom said.

Manchester police have been encouraging residents to supply them with home security camera video if possible in an effort to apprehend porch pirates. They have also been encouraging neighbors to work together to monitor deliveries and put steps in place to protect deliveries.

Porch package thefts have become common enough to cause confusion in some neighborhoods.

Last month, a suspected package theft in Manchester on West Middle Turnpike turned out to be a delivery snafu.

On Jan. 16, after receiving a complaint from West Middle Turnpike about what a resident feared to be a package theft, authorities sent out an image of a man involved.

The man saw the post and immediately contacted officers, police said.

The package that was retrieved was, in fact addressed to the man, but was delivered to the wrong address, police said. The man and the homeowner talked it over and it was determined to be a recurring issue with deliveries, police said.