Florida Police Officer's Wife Caught on Video Stealing Packages From Neighbor's Porch, Sheriff Says
— -- A Florida police officer's wife has confessed to stealing packages containing kids' Christmas gifts from a neighbor's porch after being caught on surveillance video, according to the Polk County Sheriff's office.
The alleged porch pirate, 42-year-old Dana Hager from Lakeland, Florida, drove up to a neighbor's home, walked to the front door, took two brown USPS packages containing Christmas gifts for the family's two-year-old child, put the packages in her car and then drove away last Friday around 10 p.m., according to an affidavit and home security video sent to ABC News by the Polk County Sheriff's office.
"The fact that Hager took the packages off of a neighbor’s front porch is shocking." Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told ABC News today in a statement. "The fact that she is the wife of a law enforcement officer is even more shocking."
Hager is the wife of a police sergeant for Haines City, Florida, according to public records. The police sergeant declined to comment to ABC News.
A woman was in the residence with her two-year-old when Hager came, according to the affidavit written by the responding deputy from the sheriff's office.
"She observed a shadow walk by the window on the front of her home" and she "ran to her bedroom with her child and looked at her video surveillance system," the affidavit said.
After posting the video to her personal social media, she received several messages from people who told her they believed the woman in the video was Hager, the affidavit read, adding that a witness said she saw Hager at the home on Friday night and that another woman who worked with Hager said she was positive, Hager was the woman in the video based on a tattoo and other factors.
Hager confessed to the crime when she was arrested this past Monday, when she was charged with unarmed burglary of an occupied dwelling, petit theft and violation of probation,the sheriff's office said. The office added that Hager "started feeling bad about taking the items, so she returned them in a white plastic bag" at 4:50 a.m. this past Monday.
Hager was booked at a Polk County jail, where she is currently being held on no bond as a result of the violation of probation charge, Sheriff Polk County public information officer Donna Wood told ABC News today.
Hager was placed on probation this past May after she was found guilty of shoplifting at a Kohl's department store in April, according to court records.
It was not immediately clear if Hager has obtained a lawyer and if she has entered a plea.
