Whitman Woman Accused Of Stealing Packages From Doorsteps

WHITMAN (CBS) – A woman is accused of going door-to-door and stealing packages. Whitman Police swarmed a home on Commercial Street Monday night, carrying out boxes and boxes of allegedly stolen merchandise, packages police say were heisted by 43-year-old Kathy Lyden.

Police say she drove a pickup truck around Whitman, Hanson and Abington ripping off deliveries that had been dropped on doorsteps.

"She was going to the houses taking the packages," said Whitman Police Chief Scott Benton. "She had been doing it for a while because there's probably somewhere between two to four, five thousand dollars-worth of merchandise that we have here now back at the station."

Items of every description were recovered and brought to the Whitman Police station where officers hope victims will be able to come and claim it.

Those victims include Chris Powers who had a package stolen right off his front stairs. He says he feels violated.

"Imagine that? You used to be able to put something on your steps and you'd feel totally comfortable that it's going to be there when you get home," Powers said. "But yeah to have somebody come up on your property and take something off your steps? Not a good feeling."

Police say the case was cracked with a photo taken by one of Chris's neighbors. The victim didn't want his face shown.

"There was a package on the doorstep. The person came out of their car took the package into their car and left. They then drove off came back about 15 minutes later pulled into our neighbor's driveway and did the same thing at their house."

"It's Christmastime I get it. I get it. Times are tough, to some extent some sympathy is on order you have to sort of be desperate I think to do this."

Lyden is expected to be in court Tuesday morning.