UPDATE: Good news.
I filed complaint with local law enforcement when this theft happened. I recently received an email from the investigating officer. Lo and behold, he was able to make an arrest and in fact recovered my rifle. the case is in court now. I was told I would be contacted after the case is adjudicated to get the rifle. The stock blank was not recovered and the suspect stated he "got rid of it" UPS did not do squat with their investigation. they would rather just write it off. the hell with the customer.
Evidently this guy would remove packages that contained guns and would take them to his truck. no cameras in the sorting area. that he got rid of it.
so for the naysayers that felt I jumped the gun on my accusation of theft, I guess i was right !!!