Neighbors compile video file on porch thief, RPD arrest multiple times but thefts continue

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A neighborhood in one of the hottest areas in the city is fed up over quality of life. Neighbors in a section of North Winton Village have video showing the same man trying to get into cars and stealing packages off porches.

And they say calling the police hasn’t solved the problem. So after years of dealing with this, they shared the video with News10NBC.

In a video from mid-July, you see a man walk up to a car in a driveway and try to open it. Another video shows he was back a week later. The neighborhood is in the city but only a block from the Irondequoit border.

When the same man returned in early August, Kelly Rodriguez had enough.

“Hey!” she yelled from her front door. “You’ve got to get away from them cars right now! The police are coming for you!”

“It’s a constant battle, a struggle, feeling of unsafe,” she said from her backyard Friday morning.

Brean: “What would you like to see happen?”
Kelly Rodriguez: “It stopped before something bad happens.”

Rodriguez and her neighbors have compiled more than two dozen videos since May that show a man trying to get into cars or steal things off porches.

It happens at night.
During the day.
And in the rain.

Brean: “Same guy?”
Rodriguez: “Same guy.”
Brean: “All the time.”
Rodriguez: “All the time.”

RPD told me they are aware of the 24-year-old man and say they’ve arrested him multiple times.
“The male has significant mental health issues, and we have transported him multiple times to mental health facilities for treatment,” wrote Lieutenant Greg Bello.

This year, according to the RPD data portal, a four-block radius in the neighborhood has had more than 20 thefts.

In a July letter addressed to everyone from the state attorney general to the sheriff, the North Winton Neighborhood Association wrote: “We now see North Winton Village deteriorating … We also see our cars stolen or broken into; while the packages sent to our homes are taken off our porches.”

“In the most recent video, you go outside the door and you yell at him,” I said to Rodriguez.

“It was in the middle of the night. I was frustrated and tired,” she said. “And I just wanted him out of the neighborhood and that was the first thing I thought.”

Brean: “Has he been back since?”
Rodriguez: “No. No, not that I’m aware of at least. Not that I’ve caught on camera.”
Brean: “Maybe it worked.”
Rodriguez: “I hope so.”

This is an illustration of one of the great difficulties in our community. How do you deal with someone with mental health issues and protect people in their homes?

One thing police told me is that if a package is stolen, Amazon will replace for free it and often, the homeowners get their item and don’t want to press charges.