ALACHUA COUNTY - With Christmas coming, some people apparently believe its better to receive than to give. A growing number of doorstep deliveries are being snatched away right from under people's noses and residents are being advised to take extra steps to secure their deliveries.

 

Two more thefts were reported to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office today and yesterday another one. Totaling ten cases in the last 45 days; none with leads or suspects.

 

Benjamin Heipp ordered two holiday gifts online but Tuesday afternoon he only received one. Heipp tells me he always does his shopping online. "One of these packages was about 40 pounds, the one that was taken. So i didn't want to deal with carrying that back and forth and i figured nobody was going to take something that big," Heipp says.

 

Lieutenant Todd Kelly with the Alachua County Sheriff's Office advise residents to be on the look out for themselves and others, especially if something out of the ordinary happens around your home. "Pick up the phone and call us first. Let us come check it out and see what they're doing there if it turns out to be nothing, if there's no harm no foul, we'll get back to business but we'd rather check those things out and hopefully prevent some of those crimes from occurring before they ever happen," Kelly says.

 

I talked to FedEx and they say it's a good idea to ask a neighbor to look out for your order or have the package delivered to your job instead of at home. Shelly Gunn, manager for FedEx Express says, "If you know you're not going to be home to accept your delivery, you know that there is a signature but you're not going to be there, you can either have the neighbor sign for it or the easiest thing is to have it held at your nearest fedex location."

 

Heipp says he won't stop shopping online even though according to Lieutenant Kelly these delivery thefts will probably increase as it gets closer to the holidays. Instead Heipp tells me, he is looking to install web cameras around his house.