[Lanay Samuelson]

PORTAGE PARK — In a flash, a thief swiped two packages containing decorations for an upcoming baby shower from a Portage Park porch.

The incident occurred at 6:35 p.m. Saturday near Linder and Warwick avenues in Portage Park and was captured on a surveillance camera.

The video shows a woman with her dark hair pulled back — and wearing a white sleeveless shirt with peach tank top, blue skirt and flip flops — run up to the porch and grab the packages that had been delivered several hours before.

Lanay Samuelson said she and her husband moved to Portage Park 1½ years ago from Ukrainian Village, where packages seemed to be stolen from porches on a weekly basis.

"When we moved we were excited about getting away from that," Samuelson said.

But news of other package thefts from porches in the area — along with graffiti popping up near her home — made Samuelson wary, and she and her husband installed a surveillance system.

The items in the package were worth about $50, and included a decoration for an upcoming baby shower, solar lights for their yard and a book, Samuelson said.

A plant that obscured the woman's face in the video has been moved, Samuelson said.

"It is not so much what was taken but that we have to worry about things being stolen from our front porch to begin with," Samuelson said.

On his Facebook page, Ald. Gilbert Villegas urged residents in the area to be on alert.

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