All it takes is one little bit of surveillance footage to bust a Christmas Grinch, but in this case he wasn’t coming down the chimneys of fictional Whoville to steal presents. A Houston man’s home security camera caught a UPS employee dropping off one package at the door before taking an iPad Mini that FedEx had delivered only hours earlier. 

The YouTube video making its rounds on Reddit clearly shows the first delivery by FedEx of the box holding the Apple product, followed by the UPS delivery guy’s arrival a few hours later.

The caption on the video says the iPad delivery required a pre-signed delivery form to allow leaving at the front door, and in the video it does look as if the FedEx guy is checking that same form to make sure it’s okay he leaves it there. Only a homeowner with a camera (or a whole lot of trust) would be fine leaving such an expensive bit of electronics out.

KHOU 11 News spoke to the homeowner, who says he was surprised to see the FedEx package wasn’t there when he got home, despite a notification that it had been dropped off.

“It said it was delivered at 9:29 a.m.,” he said. “So I go up and I have a DVR with all the cameras on it to take a look.”

He saw the second gift arrive, before it got swiped by UPS.

“I said, ‘oh my god,’ it is the UPS guy,” he explained.

The couple contacted UPS and said the company wasn’t doing much until the video hit YouTube.

“I got a call this morning and they were very helpful. They promised they would get me a replacement iPad today,” he explained.

KHOU 11 News says the employee was a seasonal worker hired just do deliver during the holidays, and he was subsequently fired. The county sheriff’s office got involved as well, arresting him yesterday and charging him with theft.

Homeowner: UPS employee caught red-handed stealing Christmas gift [KHOU 11 News]

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