Prosecutors in New York have dismantled an intricate porch piracy network, wherein the accused reportedly accessed tracking details to intercept valuable deliveries immediately upon arrival.
“It appeared the suspects were lying in wait for the packages,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney remarked during a press briefing this week.
As holiday shopping ramps up, Tierney advises consumers to monitor their delivery schedules closely and retrieve packages promptly to avoid theft.
Security footage captures two suspects seizing a package from a FedEx courier, with their getaway car conveniently positioned nearby. Prosecutors reported the theft of 15 Samsung tablets during this operation. (Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, FOX 5 New York)
The investigation, which unfolded from October 2023 through February 2025, culminated in a comprehensive indictment unveiled this week.
In one audacious incident, the perpetrators didn’t wait for the parcel to be dropped off; surveillance footage shows them confronting a delivery driver mid-street to snatch a package containing 15 Samsung tablets before escaping in a waiting vehicle. In a separate case, the suspects allegedly tailed a homeowner into her residence to steal a package after she brought it inside, according to Tierney.
Other incidents, caught on home security cameras, show thieves swiping packages minutes after FedEx delivery drivers dropped them off.
The group was so prolific, the DA said, that law enforcement noticed an uptick in porch piracy crimes. The ring is also accused of having packages shipped to “fictitious” individuals at other addresses, just so they could be stolen, Tierney said.
The stolen goods were allegedly sold in New York City and abroad. (Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, FOX 5 New York)
FedEx said in a statement that the entire shipping industry is working “proactively” with law enforcement to combat the rise in sophistication among thieves.
Most of the suspects are from New York City. One is from Yonkers, and another is from Valley Stream, in Nassau County. They are accused of targeting working-class and wealthy communities in Suffolk County, a suburban area that covers the eastern half of Long Island.
They allegedly hacked into data that held FedEx shipping info for devices from Verizon and AT&T and monitored deliveries before stealing them, Tierney said. Exactly how the information was accessed is still under investigation.
Prosecutors identified the alleged ringleader as 29-year-old Bronx resident Andricson Jerez. He and 13 accused accomplices face 50 felony charges altogether.
District Attorney Ray Tierney said the alleged thieves often picked up packages minutes after they were delivered by FedEx. (Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, FOX 5 New York)
The ring is accused of using insider information to home in on packages with smartphones and other valuable electronics inside.
“Most incidents (and all charged) involved residents who legitimately ordered phones,” a spokesperson for Tierney’s office told Fox News Digital. “The defendants would obtain the tracking information for the legitimately ordered phones and steal the package from the destination almost simultaneously with the delivery. However, we also have evidence that at least one of the runners was using a stolen identity and placing orders with that stolen identification.”
The operation included a half-dozen “runners,” who are accused of traveling out to the suburbs to steal packages. Tierney’s office identified them as Wandy Almanzar Liranzo, 35, Jackson Suazo, 30, Alvaro Alvarez Fermin, no age given, Leonel Tejeda Reynoso, 32, Felipe Batista, 22, and Luger Guerrero, 26.
Jerez had four alleged “lieutenants” who acted as transporters of the stolen goods, according to prosecutors. They were identified as Luis Marte Tavares, 34, Eugenio Valencia, 35, Raimond Cabrera de Leon, 32, and Juan Baez, 48.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney speaks as alleged Gilgo serial killer Rex Heuermann appears in Suffolk County Court on January 16, 2024, in Riverhead, New York. (James Carbone-Pool/Getty Images)
That group is accused of delivering stolen goods from the stash house to three other alleged conspirators, identified as Fawaz Hameed, a 35-year-old who owns the Manhattan electronics store, Anzar Ali, 57, and Eddie Zaibak, 28.
They allegedly stole the goods, brought them to a stash house in the Bronx and sold some of them at a storefront on Broadway in Manhattan, a few blocks south of Herald Square. Jerez allegedly sold other stolen goods in bulk to wholesalers in the U.S. and abroad.
While executing a search warrant at the Bronx hideout, police recovered 200 new phones and more than $100,000 worth of other goods, according to the district attorney’s office. Images investigators took inside the building show dozens of new phones piled up, still in their packaging.
Jerez faces similar charges in New Jersey, according to prosecutors, and the ring was allegedly operating up and down the East Coast. He was released on $75,000 bond.
Jerez, Marte Tavares and Cabrera de Leon are also facing federal charges.
Reynoso remains jailed on $50,000 bail. Fermin was arrested in New Jersey last year and later placed in ICE custody, where he accepted voluntary departure in July, prosecutors said.
The other suspects have been placed on supervised release and had to surrender their passports. Some of them were freed without bail because their charges are ineligible under New York law.
Experts have a few other recommendations for keeping your holiday packages secure, including home security cameras, scheduling deliveries for when you know you’ll be at home, keeping in touch with your neighbors or even having packages delivered to your job if you won’t be home during the day.
According to an annual theft report from Security.org, one in four Americans has been the victim of porch piracy, and thieves have stolen more than $8 billion worth of merchandise nationwide in the past year.
