Child Nabs Alleged Thief With Webcam

Fears of people snooping their your drawers proved true during one Bay Area open house.

You never know who is watching these days.

In one case in the East Bay, a 12-year-old girl was watching and her eyes were hiding behind the lens of a laptop computer.

Hallie Pritchard says she set up her webcam to catch her sisters stealing things from her room. Instead she caught a man snooping through her desk drawers during an open house.

Police identified the man in the video as Douglas John Calandrella. He is a former real estate agent who was previously convicted in 2010 of stealing from open houses and selling the good on eBay.

"All of a sudden she comes running down the stairs screaming oh my god somebody ripped us off so really? We looked at the video it was really shocking," Hallie's father Chris Pritchard said.

"I saw my chair move and I said what was that I fast forward back and I saw him come through a hall way came into my room looking through my drawers." Hallie Pritchard said.

Calandrella was arrest. He is being held without bail at the West County jail in Richmond.

Contact Us