LAKEWOOD, Colo. — A Lakewood woman refused to fall victim to porch pirates this Christmas.
"Never would I have ever guessed I would do something like that," said Renee Abeyta.
She was at home getting ready for Christmas when she noticed a woman hanging out on her front porch.
“She just sat there for a while and then she got on her knees, she was fixing her hair and looking around," Abeyta said. "And then - all of the sudden - she made her move and grabbed a package and took off."
What happened next, surprised even Abeyta herself.
"I don't know,” she said. “Something just came over me."
A foot chase through the streets in Abeyta’s neighborhood ensued. And she caught the whole thing on camera with her cell phone.
"What's your name? Did you just steal something?” Abeyta shouted at the woman. “Give it. I'm going to (bleep) call the police. I've got you on camera, b---ch! Give me the f--king thing. Now!"
Abeyta recorded the entire pursuit with her phone.
"You're on tape, and you're in trouble. Now give it to me,” Abeyta is heard shouting. “Now. Why are you stealing from people?”
Finally, the thief runs out of gas and hands over the package.
The video quickly went viral.
"My youngest daughter put it on her Twitter account, and it just went out of control," Abeyta said.
It turns out - it was just a Crock-Pot travel carrier in that package.
"A Crock-Pot goes in it so you can carry it to somebody's house," Abeyta said. “It was just a travel bag that keeps your Crock-Pot warm. And some Crock-Pot liners. And then, after the fact, I was like - 'Geez. I did all this for that?'"
Abeyta has taken some heat on social media for taking the law into her own hands.
“I know it could have turned sideways,” Abeyta said. “Thank goodness it didn't."
But she doesn't regret it. If there's one thing she does regret about her now infamous video, “It’s the bad language,” Abeyta said.
As for charges against the porch pirate,
"I don't know,” Abeyta said. "She's out there on every social media and news channel now, so - hopefully, she's learned her lesson."