The first theft seemed circumstancial.
Bergman got a delivery sent to her home by mistake and, when she went to hand it to its rightful owner, she noticed several other deliveries on the doorstep.
"I'm like, 'Oh he doesn't want these,' so I took one, and I put it in my car," Bergman said.
That initial theft gave Bergman a rush of adrenalin she had not felt in a long time.
"It's not like I was selling it, not like I needed it," she said. "Just the excitement of looking to see what was in that box and knowing, ya' know what, 'Since he didn't want this item, this item can be donated to someone that actually really needs it,' and that was the thought that went through my head."
She says, from then on, the urge started to get stronger and stronger.
Over the following couple of days, the mum drove her minivan around to another dozen homes, stealing packages off people's porches.
According to the woman, a psychologist told her her tour of Afghanistan was to blame.
"He's, like, 'Melissa, you were doing so much at one time and then it just stopped. So you doing this, gave you that excitement that you once had back in Afghanistan.' You got excitement out of this just like you did in Afghanistan, but it was a different type of excitement," Bergman said.
The woman, who has apologised for what she'd done, will spend 30 days in jail.
