West Columbia man charged with stealing delivered packages from homes

A West Columbia man may have started this holiday season delivering cheer to area doorsteps as a part-time seasonal UPS worker but Saturday he was behind bars, charged with stealing delivered packages, many meant to go under the Christmas tree.

Ryan Andrew Huff, 18, was charged with petit larceny for the theft on Friday of packages from more a dozen homes, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in a news release.

Lexington County deputies “spent much of today personally delivering each stolen package to its intended recipient," Koon said.

Huff was being held at the Lexington County Detention Center Saturday afternoon, awaiting a bond hearing.

The investigation into the thefts was ongoing, Koon said. The Sheriff’s Department could not say whether stolen packages had been originally delivered by the suspect.