The suspect, 22-year-old Mycah Keyona Wade, was in a Weatherford neighborhood on July 5 making deliveries as a contract driver for Amazon when she spotted the dog, Parker County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Danie Huffman said.
The dachshund, a 2-year-old named “RJ,” had darted out of his home as his owners opened the door to go to the grocery store and run across the front yard, Huffman said.
Wade snatched the dog from the street in front of the home, Huffman said. A landscaper who reported having a conversation with the suspect about the dog and private security footage from the neighborhood helped police identify Wade.
After an arrest warrant was issued for her arrest, she turned herself in and initially denied she’d taken the dog.
She later turned RJ over to investigators, who returned the dog to its original owners.
“This does not reflect the high standards we have for delivery service partners. We’re glad the customer has been reunited with their pet, and we have been in touch with them to make it right. We take these matters seriously, and these individuals are no longer delivering Amazon packages,” Amazon said in a statement to CNN.
Amazon delivery drivers aren’t just stealing homeowner’s private property and possessions, they’re also stealing packages that are supposed to be delivered to the consumer. As a way to catch the drivers in the act, Amazon began setting traps for their drivers in 2018, as a way to catch employees who are stealing packages they’re being paid to deliver.
According to
BGR– Losses attributable to things like theft and fraud cost retailers almost $50 billion in 2017, according to the National Retail Federation. Given the scale of that problem, it’s no surprise a giant Internet retail enterprise like Amazon deals with more than its share — but what you might not be aware of is the lengths to which Amazon goes to try and stop it.
To clamp down on drivers running off with packages, the company will frequently insert dummy packages (which might be empty and which might also have a random object inside to provide some weight) into the slew of orders a driver needs to load up with. Since the packages are fake (because they’re a trap to deter stealing), the real-looking label on them will present an error message when it’s scanned.
“If you bring the package back, you are innocent. If you don’t, you’re a thug,” said Sid Shah, a former manager for DeliverOL, a courier company that delivers packages for Amazon.
Dummy packages are just one way that Amazon is trying to control theft, which is a giant problem for the company — and all retailers, for that matter.
