Pierce County porch pirate steals toy truck from a 7-year-old boy

A porch pirate in Pierce County took a package earlier this week that was intended for a 7-year-old boy with cancer.

Darla Lawson says there was an orange, remote-controlled toy truck inside the box when it arrived at their home Saturday night. It was a gift for her son, Bradley.

“He chose an orange color because orange represents Leukemia, which he’s battling right now,” she said. “So, he thought that would be very special to have. And, he’s just a real big fan of race trucks and off-road racing, so this was something he was really looking forward to.”

But, Bradley never got to see the truck, let alone play with it. The family was home Saturday night when they got an alert on their Ring security camera.

“We didn’t even know that there was a package at the door, and then, come to find out it was for our son. We were just devastated to see that someone just took it,” Lawson said.

Video from the Ring camera, shared by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office on Twitter, shows a middle-aged man walk up and snatch the box, then disappear into the darkness.

The next morning, Lawson and her husband sat down with Bradley and told him what happened.

“Bradley was of course very sad to learn that his truck was taken,” she said. “But he agreed with me, and said, you know, ‘It’s OK, mommy. Everything will be OK.'”

Lawson told us the theft could have been worse. The family has occasionally has Bradley’s chemotherapy drugs delivered to the house.

“I don’t know what we would have done if we would have been expecting that and needing that for that night’s dose, and then it was just gone,” she said.

She said she didn’t decide to share her story in order to get sympathy. She did it to send a message to any other potential porch pirates.

“Hopefully this just reaches that person that did it and they realize that it is a very personal crime. You’ve gone to someone’s home, and there is a little boy or a little girl out there who is expecting something,” she said.

Lawson had hoped that speaking out would bring about something good. Now, it looks like the story of cruelty is indeed bringing about some kindness.

News broke about the theft on Tuesday. Within 30 minutes of hearing the story, an anonymous resident stopped by the sheriff’s office with a brand-new toy truck to give to Bradley.

It turns out Amazon had heard what happened, too, and had spoken with the family. The company sent Bradley a new toy truck in the mail that was orange, of course, and an upgraded model from the one that was stolen.

Bradley and his parents decided to donate the truck from the anonymous resident to the Pierce County Sheriff’s upcoming toy drive.

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If anyone would like to donate a toy to the drive in Bradley’s name, you can contact the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office. Find more details here.