14 indicted in sophisticated Suffolk County porch pirate ring
According to Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney, the crew targeted FedEx deliveries in 31 communities stretching from Huntington to Montauk.
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Fourteen people have been indicted in what prosecutors describe as an intricate, well-coordinated porch-piracy ring responsible for stealing hundreds of smartphones from homes across Suffolk County.
According to Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney, the crew targeted FedEx deliveries in 31 communities stretching from Huntington to Montauk. More than 200 phones were stolen, many snatched from doorsteps just moments after they were dropped off.
Prosecutors say the group had access to sensitive shipping information — including tracking numbers, delivery addresses and recipient names — allowing them to pinpoint when and where packages would arrive. In some cases, investigators believe the suspects manipulated delivery addresses to send shipments to locations where they could more easily steal them.
Surveillance video captured several of the alleged thefts in progress. After the phones were taken, authorities say they were transported to a stash house in the Bronx, stored in garbage bags and later sold to wholesalers who moved them both domestically and overseas.
Tierney said the ring focused specifically on high-value shipments.
“They were particularly targeting those blocks of cellular phones for the purposes of taking them and then bringing them to the Bronx, and the location in the Bronx would pay top dollar for those phones,” he said.
The accused ringleader, 29-year-old Andricson Jerez, was arrested along with 13 alleged co-conspirators. Jerez’s bond was set at $75,000, which he has since posted. If convicted on the top charge, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
