Texas woman tricks ‘porch pirate’ into leaving a fake package full of dirty diapers, only for the thief to get revenge by staining her door with them, then dumping cow manure on her car
- Gabriela O’Hearn, 37, grew tired of “porch hacking” in her Austin neighborhood, so she tricked a serial thief into stealing her son’s dirty diapers.
- The thief returned with the diapers and smeared them on O’Hearn’s door and doorbell camera.
- After only 30 minutes they came back a second time, this time with cow dung, and targeted his family’s vehicles.
- The Round Rock Police Department has advised residents not to confront thieves, but stricter laws appear ineffective in reducing porch burglary.
A Texas mom tricked a serial porch pirate into stealing a fake delivery full of dirty diapers, only for him to come back and smear them on her doorstep in revenge.
Gabriela O’Hearn of Austin was further horrified to discover that half an hour later the thief returned with a ‘giant bag of cow dung’ in a second act of revenge.
Feces were scattered on vehicles in the family’s driveway and all over the porch.
“It was a really long day of cleaning up a lot of cow feces,” the 37-year-old told KXAN.
Video captured on the doorbell camera shows a masked robber rushing to the front door with a white object in his hand before rubbing it on the door and doorbell camera.
Footage from a video captured on O’Hearn’s doorbell camera shows the thief returning with the diapers seeking revenge.
Business owner O’Hearn, who works full time and is now pregnant, has been dealing with “porch hacks” in her Austin neighborhood for months.
She says she believes the same man was behind most of the recent robberies she had suffered, and that he was the thief who picked up the booby-trapped package.
At least 12 of her neighbors said the same thieves have also been attacking their homes.
O’Hearn and her husband decided to take action, leaving their children’s dirty diapers in a box on the porch, disguised as a recent delivery.
Residents of Round Rock, near Austin, have been able to use doorbell cameras to repeatedly capture masked thieves rushing into their homes and stealing packages.
Gabriela O’Hearn, 37, grew tired of “porch hacking” in her Austin neighborhood, so she decided to take action.
O’Hearn said, “When they found out it was a bunch of dirty diapers, they came back and smeared it all over the front door.”
“We have to stop this now, especially before the holidays start.”
She said the robbers would attack ‘in the middle of the day, in the middle of the night’ and that it was always ‘the same car, the same people’.
O’Hearn said the robbers were driving a black Chevrolet Suburban with no license plates.
The Round Rock Police Department has advised residents not to confront the ‘porch pirates’ but has said that smearing manure on vehicles would be considered a ‘criminal mischief’.
Meanwhile, Britany Walker, also an Austin resident, has also fallen victim to the scammers.
She says that she was only able to dissuade the pirates on the porch from attacking her again by yelling “I have a baby”.
Round Rock resident Britany Walker was also a victim of “porch hacking,” but was able to deter the thieves by yelling, “I’ve got a baby.”
In 2019, Texas introduced new laws to clamp down on “porch hacking,” but they appear to have had little effect. An article published by the Houston Law Review in 2019 found that “there is little evidence that these laws have the desired deterrent effect” and said that “the law should facilitate further private action.”
During the holidays, Round Rock Police also launch ‘Operation Front Porch’ where people can have their packages delivered to the police department to avoid leaving them on the porch.
According to Commander Tom Sloan, the initiative was effective. He said, ‘What safer place to have your package delivered than the police department?’
O’Hearn has no regrets: ‘It’s a tool for me. i have a toddler i work full time and have another one on the way so i use this as a survival tool.
There has to be an end. It just isn’t right in my book anymore.’
