GUILDERLAND — The Grinch — in the form of a slender woman dressed in black —  who took packages from a front porch in Windmill Estates apparently had second thoughts and returned them.

Guilderland Police Deputy Chief Curtis Cox said the homeowner has chosen not to press charges after packages were stolen from her doorstep. The packages were later returned, but only after a doorbell video showing the woman taking the packages was posted on Facebook and shared widely. 

The theft occurred on Halfmoon Drive this week, Cox said. Halfmoon Drive is part of Windmill Estates in western Guilderland.

Posts on social media had announced that the packages had been returned, and speculated that they were probably returned because of the many shares of the video online. 

In the video, a woman who looks to be in her 20s or 30s, wearing a belted black cardigan and leggings, can be seen leaving her rust-colored sport utility vehicle running in the driveway as she walks along a stone path to the home, looks around briefly, and then, just off camera, picks up a pile of packages and hurriedly returns with them to the vehicle. 

Cox said that he has heard of packages stolen from doorsteps in the Capital Region, but this is the first case he knows of in Guilderland. 

He recommends tracking packages whenever ordering online, and trying to be sure to take packages inside right away when they are delivered.

“Video doorbells,” he said, “have become a help in these situations.”