Preteens steal packages in Montgomery County

WASHINGTON - A Montgomery County neighborhood has been plagued by package thieves over the last few days, and when neighbors checked their security cameras, they couldn’t believe the age of the culprits. 

Huda Mistry had a package stolen and posted about it on her neighborhood’s Facebook group and the Nextdoor app. 

She shared video of the three young children with a dog, one of whom swiped a package from her porch on Cabin Branch Ave., a few blocks from the Clarksburg Outlets.

"When I did, that’s when a lot of people started messaging and some of them reached out to me in my personal inbox too. They let me know that packages were stolen from their front porch as well some really expensive stuff that they ordered for their relatives, for their family, friends for Christmas," said Huda Mistry. 

FOX 5 spoke to another neighbor who said she had a package with AirPods stolen.

Mistry said she didn’t want the kids to be arrested, but hoped they would be identified and their parents notified.

About an hour after FOX 5 spoke to her, one of the kids showed up on her doorstep again, but this time with his mother and a Montgomery County police officer.

Police identified all three children and say all are under 13 years old. They took one of the boys home-to-home to apologize and return the stolen items.

"He did apologize. He did share that he didn’t know what he was doing and it was just out of fun, that the kids just thought they would have some fun," Mistry said. "The best part is the parents know and the kids have been identified so they know they’ve done something wrong."

Police say they still have about a dozen stolen items that need to be returned from the neighborhood and people can pick them up at the MCPD 5th district station.

An officer said there will be no charges for the kids. A new juvenile justice reform law in Maryland says children under 13 can no longer be prosecuted for most crimes, including misdemeanor theft.