LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) – A woman seen stealing a package off a front porch in Langley has returned the parcel with a bizarre excuse.

Courtney Thomas, the woman who had her package stolen, says the person who originally took the package returned it with a note attached to it. The note claimed the package wasn’t stolen, but it was taken as part of a scavenger hunt, and included an apology.

“I did not steal it — in fact it was all apart of some stupid scavenger Halloween thing,” read the note.

But she doesn’t believe it.

“Who has a scavenger hunt that includes mail theft? Who also has a scavenger hunt in the middle of the day on a Wednesday,” she says. “Normal human beings have jobs they have to go to and have responsibilities. They aren’t playing games in the middle of the afternoon.”

Thomas said she reached out to the police after she watched what was happening on her security cameras at work. She says she watched a live video of someone swiping a parcel off her front porch this week.

Thomas set up a camera after several previous thefts at her home in Fernridge. The system streams live video when it detects motion in frame. She was away from home when her phone alerted her that something was happening.

“I saw that the [UPS] guy was there. I didn’t think anything of it. I was expecting a package,” she explained.

“Four or five minutes later, it goes off again. I immediately [thought], ‘It’s not right.’ I checked it again and saw a lovely lady stealing my package.”

Thomas has posted on Facebook, with video and photos showing the package being dropped off — and then being taken by a woman shortly after.

She notes she’s received an outpouring of support and her post has been shared several times.

She says this is the third theft at her home in six months.

“Somebody took the copper piping out of the house. Then, four or five weeks ago, we had our ATVs stolen out of our garage. They were literally driven off the property.”

She adds after so many thefts, she’s losing faith in people. “Unfortunately, you don’t know your neighbours anymore.”

Thomas has reported the incident to the RCMP. She’s not sure what else she can do to prevent thefts in the future.

“I have two dogs at home… I found out that there are drop points — if you shop through Amazon, you can have your packages dropped off at and picked up at pretty late hours.”

But she says works long hours, which makes it hard for her to pick up packages at depots.

– With files from Dean Recksiedler