Thieves steal awards intended for Girl Scouts in T.O.

If someone finds two large boxes of Girl Scout badges, teddy bears and T-shirts, please return them to the Serenity Oaks Service Unit.

At around 4 p.m. Dec. 19, Tammy Adams was hosting a party at her home in the 3400 block of Birdsong Avenue in Thousand Oaks. The party was for her 3-year-old son's birthday. During the festivities, she noticed a man from FedEx delivering two large boxes to her door. She thought they could wait, though, because she was preoccupied.

"I was busy with the party, the kids running around and everything else going on," she said.

It was cold so the kids couldn't go outside. Adams focused on her guests as she served pizza and cake to everyone.

She'd get to the large packages later.

The boxes, containing thousands of dollars in awards, were still on the porch at 6 p.m. when her last guest left, Adams said.

But then it was time to clean up the kids and get them ready for bed. Her husband lifted one of the 30-pound boxes and decided he'd wait until his wife could help carry them in, Adams said.

At around 9:45 p.m., the house was finally quiet. The two went outside to the lighted porch to get the packages, but the boxes had disappeared.

"The contents in the boxes are of no value to anyone except the girls who earned the awards," Adams said.

She's hoping the thief realizes that he has no use for Girl Scout badges, teddy bears and T-shirts and returns them to the 150 girls, ages 5 to 10, who sold nuts and candy to earn the awards. Or, if the culprit ditched the boxes somewhere, that somebody else will find and return them to the Girl Scouts.

Either way, no questions will be asked, Adams said.

"I've been having packages delivered to my home for the last six years, and nothing like this has ever happened before," Adams said.

Detective Eric Buschow said packages being stolen from someone's doorstep is unusual in Thousand Oaks and encouraged residents to get packages quickly when they're left at the door.

"It's more common for mail to be take from mailboxes in Thousand Oaks than packages from doorsteps," Buschow said.

To combat mailbox thefts, police recommend residents use locked mailboxes with a slot for mail and a key required to retrieve it. Never put outgoing mail in a mailbox with the red flag up. The red flag alerts mail thieves that there's something inside.