A brazen-faced porch pirate was caught on surveillance video snatching a package worth thousands of dollars right out of the hands of a homeowner in a matter of seconds.
The bold theft happened Tuesday in Montgomery County, PA, at around 3 p.m., when the victim, identified only as Henry, was retrieving the package containing six iPhones for his family, according to ABC 6.
The thief can be seen running up to Henry’s door, bolting past an Amazon driver dropping off another delivery, as the homeowner bends over to pick up the high-value package.
In a flash, the porch pirate — wearing a black “Guess” shirt and a black Philadelphia Phillies baseball hat — yanks the package away from Henry and runs off toward a light tan-colored sedan with tinted windows that was waiting for him at the edge of the property, the video shows.
“Once he gets in the back of the car, he just flew up the street,” Henry told the local news station.
The shameless robbery left the homeowner shaken.
“Now every time you open the door for delivery, you have to watch out,” he said.
He believes the thief targeted the package containing thousands of dollars worth of phones. Henry said he saw the same sedan drive past his house moments before the shocking theft.
“They see the FedEx, they u-turn and then they come up the block and come right in front of the FedEx,” he said.
Even odder — moments after the theft, Henry said he received a mysterious phone call from an unknown number asking him to return the six phones that were just stolen.
He explained what happened to the caller but was immediately hung up on.
“That’s kind of weird too,” Henry said. “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 that was officially enacted in February.
Senate Bill 527 has enacted stricter penalties for repeat offenders and people who steal higher-value packages.
The law makes porch piracy a third-degree felony if the value of the stolen items exceeds $2,000 or the accused thief has two or more prior convictions for mail theft.
Any thief convicted under the law can 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, which was 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.