Man caught on video taking packages from front porches in Bastrop, deputies say

BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — A man faces mail theft charges after deputies said he was caught on video stealing packages from front porches in Bastrop.

The suspect is Octavio Garza, who is in the Bastrop County Jail on a $25,000 bond, the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office said. Further charges could be pending.

The sheriff's office said on Tuesday, a victim in the 100 block of Patrick Herndon Drive reported he had two packages stolen off his front porch. In Ring doorbell video of the theft, the sheriff's office said the man is seen taking packages off the porch and driving away in a silver GMC pickup truck with an orange toolbox.

Later, a deputy also responded to the 1100 block of FM 969, where the truck and man were found thanks to a witness, the sheriff's office said. The man was detained and questioned.

"He made an admission to the Deputy that he was the one on video taking packages," the sheriff's office wrote, but the deputy left without making an arrest "due to the statutory restrictions in arrests for misdemeanor violations."

On Wednesday, BCSO said an investigator found there was probable cause for a warrant to be issued for mail theft, a class A misdemeanor.

That investigator also connected the same pickup truck and man to another case, where the suspect was seen taking packages off a front porch in the 100 block of Mills Crossing Drive.