Texas woman tricks the ‘porch Pirate’ with a false package of diapers. Only for the thief, who then sprays cow manure all over her car and covers her door with it, to exact revenge.

  • Gabriela O’Hearn was 37 years old when she became tired of ‘porchpiracy’ in Austin. She convinced a serial thief to steal her diapers.
  • The thief returned with his diapers and covered O’Hearn’s front door and doorbell camera.
  • Within 30 minutes, they were back with cow manure and next targeted vehicles belonging to her family.
  • Round Rock Police Department advise residents not to face thieves, but it seems that stricter laws are ineffective when curbing theft from porches

Texas mom connived with a porch pirate and stole a delivery filled full of diapers. The pirate returned to her home in rage, but she was able to get them back.  

Gabriela O’Hearn of Austin was also horrified to discover that the thief had returned half an hour later with a giant bag of cow manure as a second act. 

They spread the feces all over the driveway of the family and on the porch. 

‘It was a really long day of cleaning a lot of cow feces,’ the 37 year-old told KXAN. 

The doorbell camera captures a mask-wearing thief speeding up to the front door while holding a white object. After rubbing the object over the door, the camera records the thief.

A masked thief returns to O'Hearn's house to smear the recently stolen diapers on her front door

The diapers that were disguised by O'Hearn as a package on her porch were then used by the thieves to exact their revenge

Stills taken from O’Hearn’s video camera capture the thieves returning with their diapers in a bid for revenge.

O’Hearn works full time and has been dealing for months with “porch pirates” in her Austin neighbourhood.

According to her, she thinks the same man is responsible for most recent thefts that she suffered. He was also the one who stole the package with the bobot-trapped contents.  

Twelve of her neighbours said the thieves had also been attacking their houses. 

O’Hearn’s husband and O’Hearn took the initiative to leave their child’s diapers undigested in a box outside their home disguised for a recently delivered package. 

Residents of Round Rock near Austin have been able to use doorbell cameras to repeatedly capture the masked thieves hurrying towards their houses and snatching packages

Round Rock residents near Austin were able to capture the thieves speeding up to their homes and taking packages from them using doorbell cameras.

Gabriela O'Hearn, 37, became fed up with 'porch piracy' in her Austin neighborhood so decided to take action

Gabriela O’Hearn (37), was fed up with the ‘porch piratery’ she saw in her Austin neighbourhood and decided to do something about it.

O’Hearn said: ‘When they discovered it was a bunch of dirty diapers they came back and smeared those diapers all over the front door.

“We must stop doing this, particularly before the holiday season begins.”

She said that the thieves would strike ‘in the middle of the day, in the middle of the night’ and it was always the ‘same car, same people’. 

O’Hearn claimed that thieves would travel in black Chevrolet Suburbans without registration plates. 

Round Rock Police Department has advised residents against confronting ‘porch Pirates,’ however they have stated that vehicle smearing of manure would be considered ‘criminal Mischief.

Britany Walker from Austin has been also taken advantage of by the scammers.

She claims she could only deter porch pirates by shouting, “I have an infant!”  

Round Rock resident Britany Walker was also a victim of 'porch piracy' but was able to deter thieves by shouting at them: 'I have a baby'

Round Rock resident Britany Walker was also a victim of ‘porch piracy’ but was able to deter thieves by shouting at them: ‘I have a baby’

Texas introduced laws in 2019 that would have cracked down on “porchpiracy”, but these seem to be of little consequence. Houston Law Review’s 2019 article found that “there’s little evidence these laws are having the intended deterrent effect” and suggested that the law should encourage more private action.

Round Rock police launch Operation Front Porch during holidays. People can send their packages to police to keep them off the porch.

The initiative proved to be effective, according to Commander Tom Sloan. According to Sloan, there is no better place for your mail to be delivered than to the police department.

O’Hearn doesn’t regret anything: “It’s a tool. A toddler is mine. My job is full-time, and my second child is on its way. This helps me to survive. 

“There must be an end.” I don’t believe it is OK anymore.

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