Only On 2: Man Caught On Tape Using Young Boy To Grab Package Off Porch

WEST COVINA  (CBSLA.com)    — Porch thefts are are an increasing crime but it looks like one alleged thief is into out sourcing.

It's video that is Only On 2.

A young boy is shown veering off from a man he's walking with.

The man's he's with appears to make a hand gesture and keeps walking.

The boy, meanwhile, picks up the velivered parcel and runs away. He then hands the box to the man.

We've blurred the boy's face, he's only about 10.

CBS2's Jennifer Kastner enhanced the video to show the man.

Police are hoping someone recognizes him.

A man who lives at the home spoke to Kastner. We blurred his image because he fears retaliation for himself and his family.

"I've never seen an adult send a child to steal packages," the man says.

He was stunned by what his security cameras captured.

"To learn how to steal at that early age is really heartbreaking," says the man, himself a father of three.

He told Kastner he can't imagine raising his kids to behave that way.

Friday night, she showed the video to Lt. Travis Tibbetts of the West Covina Police Department. He called the tape, "appalling."

He says the man could face charges of petty theft as well as contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

"Both come with fines or up to one year in county jail," said Tibbetts.

An irony in the story? The stolen package was filled children's clothes. The father had ordered them for one of his little girls.

For the father, the biggest lost is not the clothing -- but a child's innocence.

"That child when he grows up be might be thinking oh it's okay to take other property and it's just not the way a child should be growing up," the homeowner said.