Authorities said Kelli Russell, 33, was responsible for a string of front porch package thefts at a Dallas apartment complex
A Dallas woman’s neighbors have named her as being the suspect in a string of neighborhood front porch package thefts.
Authorities say that Kelli Russell, 33, was identified by her neighbors as being their apartment complex’s package pilferer after surveillance videos of her alleged thievery appeared online.
Dallas police arrested Russell, a model and bartender, on Thursday night for various traffic violations, including driving without a license plate, KHOU reported.
Following her arrest, detectives got a search warrant for her apartment and apparently found a significant number of stolen packages inside, according to the report.
Russell’s neighbor, Aubrey White, said that police removed ‘an insane amount of things’ from Russell’s apartment – enough to fill the trunks and backseats of two police cruisers.
White was among the apartment complex dwellers who recognized Russell from the surveillance footage of the package thief that was being shared online.
In the surveillance footage, a blonde woman can be seen walking up to front doors, picking up packages and then walking away with them
Neighbors identified Russell based on surveillance footage that appeared online
Neighbors said that Russell frequently threw out a large number of packaging boxes
In a number of the videos, filmed at different times at different locations, a blonde woman with her hair in a topknot can be seen brazenly approaching front doors, bending down to pick up brown cardboard packages and then walking away with them.
White told KHOU that Russell was known to throw out a large number of packaging boxes, occasionally even having to use the dumpster across the way because their own building’s dumpster was full.
Another of Russell’s neighbors, Leann Dawson, noted that Russell herself received plenty of packages at her own apartment.
‘We just watched, made sure no one confiscated them,’ Dawson said, laughing at the irony of the situation.
Russell, a model and bartender, is said to have received many packages at her own apartment. Neighbors said they frequently kept an eye on her packages to make sure they weren’t stolen
Police said that the majority of packages Russell is now suspected of having stolen were never reported to authorities. They are in the process of trying to contact theft victims in an effort to determine the value of the stolen goods.
After ascertaining the total value of the items that were taken, police said that they intended to charge Russell with an aggregate theft charge.
She was released from jail on Friday.
In December, Russell created a GoFundMe page for the purpose of buying a car. She said that despite working three jobs, she hadn’t been able to buy herself a car during to a variety of medical bills stemming from ‘horrible insurance’ that didn’t cover MRIs, overnight hospital stays or testing.
The self-described ‘hardworking girl’ managed to raise $330 of her $2,000 goal before the fundraising page was shuttered.