Is this little girl a mini Artful Dodger, or is this video, in which a man uses a toddler to steal a package, just the latest example of questionable parenting?
In the private security footage, posted on YouTube Thursday, a toddler is seen taking a box from the doorstep of a Washington home on April 5. The package was delivered about 20 minutes earlier.
Captured on film by a motion-sensing camera, an unidentified man approaches the North Seattle house, pushing a stroller. In a matter of minutes, the toddler hops out of the stroller and walks up the driveway toward the front door. Though she pauses about halfway up the driveway, a slight nod from the modern-day Fagin spurs the little girl to continue on her way. With only a few more steps to the front door, the young girl picks up the package and returns it to the man, who promptly stashes it under the stroller.
Speaking to The Huffington Post, Jared Brinkley, the Seattle homeowner whose camera captured the footage, explained that he and his wife did not realize the Amazon package was stolen off their doorstep until they tracked the shipment online earlier this week. When they learned the package was, in fact, delivered, Brinkley said he checked the security footage and spotted the unconventional thief.
"It is just bizarre beyond belief," Brinkley told HuffPost, adding that he can't quite follow why the man enlisted the toddler to retrieve the package. "I looked at it and looked at it and just stewed over it for awhile," he said of the footage.
Brinkley, who lives in the Licton Springs neighborhood of Seattle, installed the camera on the outside of his home following a few incidents, such as slashed tires and graffiti, that were occurring on his block. Brinkley said he thought the sight of the camera alone -- which is plainly apparent with its blinking red light -- would act as a deterrent, however that's obviously not the case here.
Though Brinkley noted that the content of the package was inconsequential -- it cost about $15 -- he nonetheless filed a report with Seattle Police Department, which, he said, took the incident "very seriously." According to Brinkley, the officers were more concerned with the method of theft than the actual crime. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
This may not be the first instance of an adult involving a child in criminal activities, but we've certainly never seen anything like it.
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