Off-campus IU students targeted by Bloomington porch pirate, police say

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — College students expect their textbooks, clothes, and care packages to show up on their doorstep, not disappear from it.

According to Bloomington police, the new school year brought a rash of porch thefts targeting nearly a dozen of them.

“I feel like it’s a pretty easy crime to get away with, but in this case, they didn’t get away with it,” said IU student Harley Babbitt.

It wasn’t long after 40-year-old Tiffany Flynn allegedly enjoyed her thieving spree that police said she got busted during an unrelated traffic stop.

The smoking gun? A pile of packages in her backseat – all addressed to different people.

“He was like, ‘Your birthday gift came in! I got the notification.’ Then he went to get it off the porch and it was gone,” IU student Eliza McCord explained.

McCord’s boyfriend didn’t get the chance to gift her a new bottle of her favorite perfume.

“Whoever has it out there, they smell really good, so it’s their lucky day,” McCord added.

Police accuse Flynn of swiping upwards of 15 packages from porches across a neighborhood largely populated by IU students.

“Probably in total, like, $400 worth of stuff because these packages were expensive, the books especially,” said IU student Samantha Schleeter.

Some packages were returned before their rightful owners even realized they were gone on Saturday, a Hoosier football game day – an occasion Schleeter speculates the suspect took advantage of.

“Definitely because no one was here and all the cops were on the other side of campus, so I would presume it was a more convenient time,” Schleeter said. “You almost need something like this to happen to be on alert. It’s early, people aren’t necessarily locking their doors yet, things like that.”

Court documents suggest package theft is common for the area and “especially frequent this time of year when university students return to Bloomington.”

The students FOX59/CBS4 crews spoke to weren’t surprised. And most, like Babbitt, had ordered school supplies.

“People are moving into these rental houses; they might not have security really set up,” Babbitt said.

But now, suffice it to say… they’ve learned their lesson.

“Now all of our doors have security bars, and we have security cameras, and we have a sign now that says ‘smile, you’re on camera,'” said Schleeter.

An IUPD spokesperson said their department is not currently noticing any package theft trends on campus.

Bloomington police were unavailable for further comment.