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Christmas presents stolen from teacher's porch in Delray Beach

'It was just devastation, violation is what I felt,' Keyanna Evans says
Posted at 9:24 PM, Dec 20, 2023
and last updated 2023-12-20 22:40:12-05

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — The Delray Beach Police Department is asking for help to find a man who stole packages off a woman's porch Tuesday afternoon.

Keyanna Evans, who is a second-grade school teacher at Village Academy, said the packages were Christmas presents for two boys. She said video captured by her doorbell cameras shows that the thief used a shirt to partially cover his face.

"While I'm working, I'm being burglarized," Evans said. "I was in the middle of a parent-teacher conference. ... Once my conference was over, I looked at my phone and my eyes got big."

Keyanna Evans speaks about the heartbreak of having the presents stolen from her doorstep in Delray Beach.
Keyanna Evans speaks about the heartbreak of having the presents stolen from her doorstep in Delray Beach.

She saw a man take two packages off her front porch after video showed him walking past the house multiple times.

"It was just devastation, violation is what I felt," Evans said. "Invasion of my home, my privacy, my things for my children. It just gave me an uninspired feeling."

She said she's been going through her emails to determine the specific objects that were stolen. Evans said the most frustrating part is understanding a person's rationale for stealing packages.

According to the research group SafeWise, it's estimated that 113 million packages were stolen in 2022.

The Florida Attorney General's office recommends people schedule deliveries when somebody is home, ask a neighbor to pick up a package, require a signature to complete a delivery and install security cameras to deter theft.

Cameras didn't deter a man from stealing packages off Evans' porch, which now has her explaining the situation to her 13-year-old son.

"I was crying," she said, "and my son, who is very in tune to me, and he came home and he was like, 'What's wrong mom? What's wrong mom?' and I just had to tell him because it was all over my face. My body was shaking."

The video of the thief shows him wearing a shirt from a roofing company.

WPTV contacted the owner of the roofing company who said she didn't recognize the man and they donate their shirts to the homeless.