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Louisville postal worker tracks down suspected porch pirate and returns package

The heroic act of a mail carrier was a surprise to many, but not those who know Audrey Harrod.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville has been home to nearly 250 reported mail thefts this year, according to LMPD data. Normally, it ends with stolen gifts or money lost. But not in Germantown, where a Louisville postal carrier drove after a suspected porch pirate and got the package back.

"My mail carrier is the bomb," Charlene Morris. Others called her a "pillar in the community," or simply, "the best."

They were all talking about Audrey Harrod.

On Friday, she saw a woman take a package off of Kristina Inclan's porch. Inclan, a nurse, was napping between shifts. So, when her mail carrier rang her doorbell, she didn't respond. 

"Then Audrey, the mail lady, rang the doorbell and was like, 'a lady just stole a package off of Christina's porch!'" Inclan's neighbor Amy Gaines said. 

Then, the chase began.

RELATED: 'Porch pirates' beware: Louisville state senator pre-files legislation to combat package theft

"She jumped in her van and took off," Gaines recalled. 

Inclan woke up from the commotion and a string of texts from her neighbor saying Audrey Harrod was going after her porch pirate. And she got her. Gaines said the mail carrier tracked down the thief and demanded the package back. 

Eventually, she returned the $40 pair of shoes to a surprised Kristina Inclan. 

An unexpected ending to an all-too-common crime. Over two hundred mail thefts were reported by LMPD this year, and 6 were reported this month.  

We asked Audrey Harrod if she'd like to be a part of this story and she, politely, decline. She says it's not about her.

"She doesn't have any puffed-up ideas about life or who she is, she's just a part of the flow of everything that happens in our community," Charlene Morris said.

 Contact reporter Tom Lally at TLally@whas11.com or on Facebook or Twitter.  

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