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Virginia Beach photographer chases down porch pirate

Adams started recording the man he saw stealing a package from his neighbor's doorstep.

VIRGINIA BEACH Va. (WVEC) -- For photographer Chris Adams, his quality Nikon camera and a little footwork paid off when a porch pirate came to his neighborhood.

Adams lives Farrcroft at Ridgely Manor, a Virginia Beach neighborhood next to Bayside High School.

He is a professional nature photographer and spends a lot of time taking pictures of the animals in the trees surrounding the condos.

Adams started recording the man he saw stealing a package from his neighbor’s doorstep on Monday.

"This is where I caught him,” Adams said. “He probably didn't notice me at first until I started yelling."

"I felt too old because I couldn't run that fast, but I was trying,” said Adams.

The friendly neighbor describes himself as the neighborhood watchdog. In fact, he told 13 News Now that some neighbors send their packages to his place for safekeeping until they get home.

Adams said his neighborhood has many military families, which means deliveries are often left for hours.

"We're like the big targeted neighborhood right here,” said Adams.

Adams shared some surveillance footage with us that shows porch thefts in the same neighborhood on February 20th, 22nd, and of course his run in on Monday.

"I don't know what we can do. No one wants to help us," he said. "The community wants to charge us to do a patrol. Instead of helping us get better security around here like a fence.”

Stacie Sexton has lived in the same block as Admas for a decade, and she said these package thefts are a big problem in their neighborhood.

"I had one stolen off of my porch last week,” said Sexton.

Adams said police showed up after they called about this most recent snatch and run, but abandoned boxes behind homes show there's no slowing down these porch pirates.

Adams said they called police after he caught the thief on camera. He said an officer documented the incident.

Virginia Beach Police said they didn't receive a police report from the victim though and they encourage people to always report all crimes.

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