Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Oklahoma 'porch pirate' snatches cancer patient's meds

The crime has likely delayed the victim's scheduled chemotherapy

David I. Klein
New York
Monday 20 May 2019 19:54 BST
Comments
Porch pirate' steals patient's cancer meds

A man was caught on camera stealing a cancer patient's medication from his doorstep just 10 minutes after it had been delivered.

The victim, James Mills, suffers from a form of brain cancer and was set to start chemotherapy on Monday.

He is part of clinical trial which requires his medication to be taken at specific times. He told KFOR: "It's absolutely essential. I'm in a clinical trial where everything has to be taken at a certain time. A certain dose at a certain time, and I'm scheduled to start that tomorrow," he said.

A UPS notification had informed Mills that the medication had been delivered to his Oklahoma City home, but less then 10 minutes later Mills found it gone. The alleged thief, which KFOR has dubbed a 'porch pirate,' was caught on tape by Mills' security camera.

In the footage, the man can be seen snatching up the package less just 8 minutes after had been delivered. Mills said the crook looked like knew what he was doing; the unidentified man kept his head down and had his face concealed by a hood.

The event only complicates an already difficult ordeal for the family.

“It was frustrating, I was pretty angry. It’s not easy, I mean, we had trouble getting that medicine to begin with. Having to call the pharmacy, go through the doctor to get approvals and things like that. That in itself is frustrating," Mills' wife Heather said.

Independent Minds Events: get involved in the news agenda

The family hopes they can get replacement for the medicine, but getting one in time for the Monday therapy seemed unlikely.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in