LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- You could say James Warren is an expert fisherman who uses some very unusual bait.
"We get a lot of random stuff that goes for the bait," he said with a smile. "I call it a bait box, and it seems to be way too successful."
His bait is an old Amazon box. The result of a good day of fishing for Warren? Catching a potential porch pirate on camera for the whole neighborhood to see.
The hobby started a couple years ago after a few of his packages were nabbed off his Old Louisville condo's porch.
"We did accidentally have a package shipped here which was actually Bibles, and within ten minutes of the mail carrier dropping it on the porch, someone came and stole them," Warren said.
He'd had enough. The Ring Video Doorbell he got for Christmas didn't stop the problem alone, so he got creative. He used a hidden metal wire to secure a decoy package to his porch. When a would-be porch pirate tries to remove the package, it budges just enough to reveal a small sign: "Hello package thief. You are on camera." Meanwhile, his motion-activated Ring camera records the whole affair.
"You can see the metal wire's a little banged up from being messed with so many times," Warren said as he showed off the decoy. "It just goes to a carabiner, so they can't actually take off with it."
Even if someone manages to swipe the box from the porch, he or she is in for yet another surprise. The box contains some less-than-desirable items like a cinder block, some discarded pistachio shells, or a clothes hanger.
"I've seen them curse," Warren said. "I've seen them throw their hands up and stomp off or just shake their head and sigh."
The bait has attracted plenty of fish.
"I've had this going now for a year and a few months, and I've probably had over a couple hundred attempts at the box," Warren said. "Sometimes, it's multiples in a day. This past Saturday, there were four different ladies that tried."
Warren said even though police haven't acted on his videos so far, he hopes they will someday. However, even if they don't, he considers what he's doing as a high-tech version of a neighborhood watch.
"I'm not looking for any kind of financial gain off of this," he said. "I just want to help my neighbors."
He posts the videos to Nextdoor, Facebook, YouTube and LiveLeak. His YouTube channel, Don't Touch My Box, shows dozens of videos.
Warren doesn't find the videos humorous. He finds them sad.
"When did everyone say it's OK to go on somebody else's porch and take their stuff?" he asked.
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