Woman caught on cam stealing Northside couple’s rug, returns it with a note

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A Northside couple filed a police report after their rug was stolen only to find their rug returned along with a note.

Doorbell camera footage from the home of Katelyn Jarvis and Jim Goepferich last week shows a woman walking up to their patio, carefully moving around the patio furniture and delicately folding up the rug. She even appears to take time to shake the dust off the rug into the flower beds.

“We thought it was weird too,” Jarvis said.

“It looked like she was there with a purpose,” added Goepferich. “It almost looked like she was stealing it back from us as if we stole it from her in the first place.”

The couple filed a theft report with Cincinnati Police District Five. Jarvis put up a post on social media as well.

“People were angry... how could this woman just walk on your porch in broad daylight and steal your rug?” Jarvis said. “And then there were people that were just trying to reason with it. Like, thinking it was hers or thinking she got scammed on Craigslist.”

But Tuesday night, the couple had to email detectives to tell them they’d gotten the rug back.

Exactly one week after it disappeared, the rug was placed neatly back on their porch. Their doorbell camera again caught the suspect, this time returning the rug.

A note attached to the rug identified her as “the woman who mistakenly took your rug.”

The note reads: “I am exceedingly apologetic for taking your rug. It was an honest mistake. I was trying to pick up a free rug from a craigslist offer and I obviously got the wrong one.”

Goepferich says he was initially upset but is now relieved the rug is back where it belongs.

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