A brazen-faced porch pirate was captured on surveillance video stealing a package worth thousands of dollars right out of a homeowner’s hands in a matter of seconds.
The bold theft took place on Tuesday in Montgomery County, PA, around 3 p.m. The victim, known only as Henry, was getting a package containing six iPhones for his family when the incident occurred, as reported by ABC 6.
Surveillance footage shows the thief rushing up to Henry’s door, passing by an Amazon delivery driver dropping off another package, while Henry was bending over to pick up the valuable package.
In a split second, the porch pirate, wearing a black “Guess” shirt and a black Philadelphia Phillies baseball hat, grabbed the package from Henry and ran towards a light tan-colored sedan with tinted windows waiting for him at the property’s edge, the video depicts.
“Once he gets in the back of the car, he just flew up the street,” Henry recounted to the local news station.
The brazen robbery left the homeowner rattled.
“Now every time you open the door for delivery, you have to watch out,” he remarked.
Henry believes the thief targeted the package containing the expensive phones. He mentioned seeing the same sedan drive past his house just moments before the theft occurred.
“They see the FedEx, they u-turn, and then they come up the block and come right in front of the FedEx,” Henry explained.
Interestingly, moments after the theft, Henry received a mysterious phone call from an unknown number asking him to return the six stolen phones.
He detailed the incident to the caller but was promptly hung up on.
“That’s kind of weird too,” Henry commented. “Both of them happened at the same time.”
In Pennsylvania, stealing packages from someone’s front steps could now be considered a felony offense, thanks to a law signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro in December, officially enacted in February.
Senate Bill 527 has introduced stricter penalties for repeat offenders and individuals who steal high-value packages.
The law categorizes porch piracy as a third-degree felony if the stolen items’ value exceeds $2,000 or if the accused thief has two or more prior convictions for mail theft.
Any thief convicted under the law could face up to seven years in prison.
An estimated $6 billion worth of goods were stolen by porch pirates across the US in 2023, according to statistics released by home security tip company SafeWise.
An estimated 113 million packages were nabbed off doorsteps, marking a 5% increase from 2022.
Over half of all stolen packages were delivered by Amazon.
71% of all packages stolen were valued at $100 or less, according to SafeWise.