Old-style TVS pop up on porches

It was kind of like Christmas — except it was August, the only presents were vintage television sets and Santa had a TV on his head.

Residents of more than 50 households in Henrico County, Virginia, woke up this past weekend to find old-style TVS outside their doorsteps, said Matt Pecka, a lieutenant with the local police department. Pecka said police began receiving reports about the TVS early Sunday. By the morning, their phones were clogged with calls.

“Everyone started coming out of their houses, walking around the neighborhood looking at the TVS there on the doorstep,” said Jeanne Brooksbank, one of the recipients. “It was very ‘Twilight Zone.’”

Each home received exactly one TV, carefully placed so it faced inward toward the door, Brooksbank said. Some deliveries were caught on residents’ doorbell cameras — and that’s where things got truly bizarre.

The givers had TVS instead of faces.

The home videos reveal at least one of the deliverymen: a man dressed in a blue jumpsuit, black gloves and what appear to be brown hikingstyle boots. He wears a TV set on his shoulders, positioned so it obscures his face.

Pecka said police believe he had a helper: another man in a white jumpsuit who also wore a TV as he made deliveries.

“We determined there was no credible threat to residents and that this was strictly an inconvenience,” Pecka said. “It was” — long pause — “unique.”

After borrowing a truck, a half-dozen police officers collected the television sets in about an hour Sunday, Pecka said. The county will recycle them.

There was no additional cost to residents, and the incident didn’t impair normal police activity, Pecka said. The department doesn’t plan to investigate further, he said.

Even if police do identify “TV Santa Claus,” as This television was mysteriously left on Jeanne Brooksbank’s porch last weekend. She lives in Henrico County, Va. Brooksbank’s husband nicknamed the giver, authorities probably will not press charges. The “closest offense to this” would be leaving an unwanted item on public or private property, Pecka said.

“But I mean, one TV neatly placed on the front doorstep of each resident … it wasn’t done in a malicious

manner,” Pecka said.

“I think it was awesome, lighthearted and so great to have a fun story like this, even though there are so many tragedies occurring,” said Brooksbank, 48, referring to the deadly shootings in Dayton and El Paso, Texas. “I feel lucky I got a TV.”

Her son, 18-year-old Chase Brooksbank, at one point suggested leaving the house.

“My son was like, ‘Mom, we have got to get out of here, this is crazy, this is strange,’” she said.

But he reversed course, eventually piling into a car with a few friends and driving around the neighborhood to film a Youtube video documenting the event.

Jeanne Brooksbank said the neighborhood has floated a few theories to explain the TV dump, including a fraternity prank. Pecka declined to elaborate on any theories police may be considering.

It’s not the first time this has happened. There was a similar TV delivery last year in Glen Allen, in the Grey Oaks neighborhood in Henrico County. The TVS appeared around the same time of year — in late August — but there were fewer of them, Pecka said.

CBS 6 News reported that about 20 TVS were left on Glen Allen porches on Aug. 23 last year. Henrico police looked into the unexpected gifts, according to CBS 6, but never identified the giver.