Long Island prosecutors have charged 14 people with running a massive 'porch pirate' ring that 'systematically' stole high-value packages from doorsteps using insider knowledge from within FedEx.
In an indictment announced on Monday, Suffolk County authorities accused 29-year-old Andrickson Jerez of masterminding the operation, which swiped thousands of smartphones and tablets from homes and businesses. Jerez allegedly fed insider FedEx tracking information—including recipient names, addresses, and parcel contents—to a network of 'runners' who would grab the packages and bring them to a staging hub in the Bronx.
Prosecutors allege that Jerez and his 'lieutenants' would then confirm the devices' ID numbers before taking them to a stash house, from which Jerez and his father, Juan Baez, 48, sold them to a Manhattan electronics store owner, Fawaz Hameed, 35. In some cases, runners are accused of using force, including violently pushing a FedEx driver to steal a consignment of 15 Samsung tablets.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said, 'For two years, this alleged porch pirate ring plagued our community and built a criminal enterprise on the backs of Suffolk families and businesses.' He added that his office believed the thieves had 'hacked' one of the delivery systems to gain inside information.
Jerez faces multiple felonies including grand larceny and enterprise corruption, with up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Baez is charged with felony conspiracy and could face up to four years. All packages were sent by Verizon or AT&T through FedEx.
