Tempe Police's 'Operation Secret Santa' nabs porch pirates with bait packages this Christmas

TEMPE, Ariz. - Tempe Police officers are cracking down on grinches this season as one program is working to keep porch pirates at bay. 

It’s a problem that frustrated the people of Tempe and across the Valley: packages with holiday gifts were being swiped off their front door during the month of December.

The answer? Tempe Police put out bait packages containing tracking devices. 

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It’s all caught on camera as a man is seen sneaking up to a front porch, snatching a package, then slinking away, but little did he know what was inside. 

"So what we do is we put packages with tracking devices in them across the city of Tempe's front doors," says Tempe Police Officer Cody Conklin. 

Conklin said it’s part of "Operation Secret Santa," a plan wrapped up in the idea of curbing package thefts. 

Why you should care

It's something Officer Conklin sees a lot of and speaks to a lot of victims about this time of the year. 

"I can hear the frustration in their voice, when they report the crime and a bit of: Now what? What do I do?" Conklin said. 

Before they get something valuable, the police wanted to get the grinches. So they concocted an idea: 

"We have bait packages that citizens of Tempe have offered their homes for," Conklin said. 

This time, a suspect took the bait and the search was on. 

Conklin pulled up the tracking device and followed it to Hardy and Baseline. 

"I used the device we had, which emitted a kind of sound, a frequency. I heard it," Conklin said. 

Then, the bow on top. "We searched the backpack that he had on him, and sure enough, it was the stolen package in his backpack," he said. 

What we know

Officers later arrested a man they identified as 28-year-old Roman Lopez. 

He’s facing a misdemeanor charge of possession of stolen property. 

28-year-old Roman Lopez being arrested by Tempe Police.

"It might seem little to these thieves, but it means a lot and a great deal to the citizens of Tempe that they can trust that when they get home they are going to have their packages there," Conklin says. 

In the meantime, Conklin has this message for would-be porch pirates looking to pillage packages these next few weeks: 

"We are not going to play around," he said. "We are going to take this seriously, and we are going to use all means to attack it." 

Operation Secret Santa will continue through the end of December.