D.C. targets ‘porch pirates’ with sting operations and tougher penalties

In the boxes were coffee and paperback books — plus location-tracking devices.

The man was quickly arrested, part of a crackdown by D.C. police and prosecutors on the proliferation of “porch pirates” who swipe newly delivered packages left at people’s front doors.

The once largely seasonal crime grew during the pandemic, when trips to stores were difficult, and has since become far more common throughout the year in D.C. and elsewhere. The pilfering is testing residents’ resolve following last year’s spike in violent offenses in the city. And, along with brazen retail thefts that have forced stores to keep common products under lock and key, the incessant porch-pirating has added new challenges to shopping.

“Obviously, it’s not a violent crime, but I think what we’re seeing is that these kinds of cases are having a dramatic impact on the community,” said Jodi Lazarus, an assistant U.S. attorney in the District and deputy chief of the D.C. Superior Court division.

As a result, police are more aggressively targeting suspected thieves. In one instance, according to court documents, officers hid in a CVS store on Capitol Hill and watched as a man stole $33.47 worth of merchandise. Police said the man already had been charged with shoplifting in Arlington County, where authorities had an arrest warrant for him.

Prosecutors in D.C. are charging accused serial offenders with felonies, and the city has enacted tougher laws. Meanwhile, UPS is using artificial intelligence to identify delivery areas where packages are most likely to disappear, and Amazon has set up lockers at D.C. police stations to secure packages ready for pickup.

The thieves take everyday items that can be replaced, such as coffee beans and cat litter, but also sentimental treasures, including the handmade patchwork quilt with pictures of crayons and animals that arrived for Matthew Malarkey’s 1-year-old daughter in January — and was promptly stolen.

“My view is that a lot of petty crime has become an accepted way of life,” said Malarkey, who has lived in the Brightwood Park neighborhood of Northwest Washington for nearly five years. He likened porch theft to wholesale shoplifting and jumping Metro fare gates, noting that authorities are also now targeting those offenses more aggressively.

D.C. police reported more than 13,000 thefts in 2023, a 23 percent increase from the year before. Those numbers do not include vehicle thefts or thefts from vehicles. They also don’t distinguish between package thefts and other types of thievery.

Safewise, a home-security company that tracks trends in its industry, said a 2023 survey showed 119 million annual package thefts across the country. Capital One Shopping, which helps consumers find online bargains, estimated that 1 in 7 people in the United States were victims of package theft in 2022, costing an estimated $29.2 billion.

Capital One said the average worth of a stolen package was $112. And a survey by Consumer Reports found that package theft victims appeared to be about evenly distributed between urban and suburban areas, and between single-family residences and apartment buildings.

Police sting operations, such as the one in February in LeDroit Park, are aimed at sending a message. The 62-year-old man caught with the bait box had four prior misdemeanor theft convictions dating to 2016 and had served a total of 40 days in jail, according to court records. Prosecutors said the previous convictions made him eligible for a felony charge and enhanced penalties, and his new arrest could land him behind bars for a year or more.

Since September, prosecutors said, 39 indictments have been filed against defendants on felony retail or package theft charges. Each of them had two or more prior theft convictions. Authorities said at least five have been convicted and received sentences ranging from a year to 32 months.

In early March, the D.C. Council gave prosecutors more power, making it a felony to commit more than one theft in a six-month period of items worth more than $1,000 in aggregate. Lawmakers voted down an even tougher proposed amendment that would have lowered the threshold for felony theft from $1,000 to $500.

Opponents argued that these measures will not prevent thefts and will only give more people felony records. The debate reflects the conundrum facing D.C. as it scales back progressive policing and prosecution strategies, largely in response to the 274 homicides in 2023, the deadliest year in the city in a quarter-century.

Sweta Patel, a criminal defense attorney in Superior Court, said the tougher approach to thefts reminds her of the mass arrests made during the crack-cocaine era, which filled jails with addicts and is now largely seen as failed policy. She said it “led to a mass incarceration of marginalized communities.”

“Punishment needs to be proportionate to the crime,” Patel said, adding that she thinks tax money shouldn’t be used “to incarcerate someone who stole a package worth $20 from Amazon. … What are we accomplishing? At the end of the day, that individual is not the person we need to get to reduce the serious crime in the District.”

Patel said she appreciates “the need for safety and the growing concern that most residents have about crime.” But she said violent crime “is the top priority for most individuals” and that “combating theft is at the bottom of most D.C. residents’ lists.”

Andrew Cheung, pastor of the Washington Community Fellowship Church in Northeast, said newly delivered boxes with a wireless microphone and two microphone stands were stolen from the front of a church office that resembles a residential rowhouse.

“When people do things that are destructive to the general well-being of society, it’s a reflection of our deepest human needs,” Cheung said. “I hope that as a community, we address not just the criminal aspect, but the social, mental and economic needs. We need to be a community of justice, but also one of compassion and restoration.”

The first D.C. police sting targeting porch pirates came at the end of January on a narrow residential street in Northeast Washington’s Kingman Park neighborhood.

Police put boxes out front addressed to Sylvan Altieri, commander of the Fifth District police station. Altieri came up with the idea after hearing from frustrated residents and deciding it was impractical for officers to drive around hoping to catch people in these “very random” thefts.

“A lot of these folks committing these crimes are committing them over and over again,” Altieri said.

A 59-year-old man arrested in this first sting was given a criminal citation and released. Records show police arrested the same man five days later on a drug charge stemming from an undercover operation a few blocks from where the package theft had occurred. Both cases are pending in court.

In mid-February, the commander of the Third District, James Boteler, tried his hand at a package theft sting. Police chose a house on U Street in LeDroit Park and watched for 90 minutes as the man on the bicycle repeatedly rode past, finally stopping and grabbing one of the bait boxes, according to a police report. An arrest affidavit filed in court alleges that he had cocaine in his possession. Because of his previous theft convictions, prosecutors filed a felony theft charge. His case also is pending.

Lazarus, the prosecutor, said her office is working closely with D.C. police on the package sting cases, as well as on other serial theft cases, and is researching criminal histories of suspects “to do what we think we can do to deter crime and have the most impact on the community.”

She said that by increasing prosecutions and penalties, authorities hope to make offenders think through “whether it’s really worth it to be grabbing that package off peoples’ porches.” She said the fact that judges in most cases have sentenced above the one-year minimum “is pretty telling for how at least the court feels about these cases.”

Ben Stickle, a professor of criminal justice administration at Middle Tennessee State University, said his research shows that people impacted by package thefts have “adjusted their buying habits” and may be unwilling to “purchase something to have it shipped to their home.” He said that while lockers and other alternative delivery sites help stem thefts, they ruin the benefit of having packages delivered to front doors.

“Convenience for the consumer is what this is all about,” Stickle said.

He said many people don’t report package thefts, in part because they don’t think there will be an investigation, and because retailers quickly replace stolen items. “It’s much easier to tell Amazon you didn’t get your package and get a new one than to call the police,” Stickle said.

D.C. police have partnered with Amazon to install delivery lockers outside of police stations. During a year-long pilot program that began in early 2023 at a station in Deanwood and a substation in Randle Highlands in Southeast Washington, officials said 3,000 packages were delivered to those lockers. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

In February, Altieri, the police commander, announced additional lockers would be permanently installed at two additional stations in Northwest Washington, and eventually to stations throughout the city.

At the same time, UPS has turned to artificial intelligence to recommend delivery options to retailers if an address is flagged as being in an area where package theft is prevalent.

Mark Robinson, president of UPS Capital, a division of UPS dealing with shipping insurance, said a program called DeliveryDefense scores addresses based on many factors, including reports of theft, and lets the shipper know “how likely it is your package is going to be delivered successfully.”

A shipper can then work with the customer to find ways to divert the delivery.

Malarkey, who lost his young daughter’s patchwork quilt to a package thief on Jan. 12, said it was a surprise gift from the mother of a close family friend. The sender didn’t tell him it was coming, so he wasn’t watching for it, and he missed the alert from his security camera that someone had been on his porch.

He saw the video of the theft later that evening and began contacting relatives and friends to find out who had sent the package. When he learned whom it had come from, and that it was a gift for his little girl, he went on a hunt in the neighborhood. Malarkey said he found the discarded box but not the quilt. Two weeks later, he said, he saw the man who had taken it.

“He was rummaging through other packages,” Malarkey said. “I confronted him.” He asked about his daughter’s quilt, hoping the man would give it back.

“He just kind of ignored me,” Malarkey said.

Police eventually arrested a 61-year-old suspect, and prosecutors said he had prior theft convictions that make him eligible for enhanced penalties. Malarkey said his security video assisted police in identifying the accused culprit, whose case is pending in court.

Meanwhile, the person who had made the quilt sent a replacement, and Malarkey kept an eye out for it.

This time, the sender required a signature to confirm receipt.

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