HANOVER COUNTY, Va. — The Hanover County Sheriff's Office is warning county residents about the potential of porch pirates as the holiday shopping season approaches.
"With the holidays upon us, we do anticipate this type of activity will certainly increase in the coming weeks," Hanover County Sergeant Steve Wills said.
That warning from Wills is about porch pirates putting a damper on the holidays. While estimates on the cost of the problem differ, many studies put it in the billions.
Wills says Hanover has only had two porch pirate cases in the past month, with the most recent on Wednesday at a home near Brook Way and New Hunter Road in Mechanicsville where a package was stolen within minutes of its delivery.
"Fortunately, they had a camera which captured the incident and gives us at least a basic description of the individual involved," Wills said.
Wills says he understands these can be crimes of opportunity and securing packages is hard unless you work from home, so he is offering a few tips for residents.
"If you have an option to schedule a delivery of sorts, then try to schedule it around the times of your home. If you get a notification or you have tracking information for that package and you see something get delivered, you know, try to rely on a neighbor or trusted friend or somebody that can go pick it up for you," Wills said.
Wills says some delivery companies like Amazon offer secure delivery lockers around the community.
He adds while doorbell cameras don't seem to act as a deterrent, having them helps law enforcement after the fact like in the most recent case.
"At least gives us, you know, a starting point, a description that possibly captures a suspect vehicle or something like that," Wills said.
Holiday heists aside, Wills adds Hanover has also seen several porch thefts targeting iPhones delivered by FedEx trucks.
An issue CBS 6 highlighted last month when a person holding a gun was seen stealing packages from homes in Chesterfield and Henrico.
Gun-toting suspect steals package from Chesterfield porch, police say it's a first: 'It's very concerning'
"This is actually something that is a national trend that we have been dealing with. It's not just in our region, but nationally," Wills said.
Wills says they've counted five thefts this year and four last year in the county. While it's not out of the realm of possibility it's connected to the other cases, their cases have not involved firearms.
"Sometimes pretending to be a FedEx driver. Sometimes it's been a very elaborate scheme to convince the homeowner that the phones are being under recall and had to be confiscated or taken back," Wills said.
Wills says they continue to investigate these cases, including with federal partners, and encourage residents during the upcoming holidays to call police if they see anything suspicious.
"It's a 'See Something, Say Something' kind of situation."
Regarding those Chesterfield and Henrico thefts, Chesterfield police say they have identified a suspect and obtained warrants for their arrest, but haven't served them because the person is being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
They add their investigation indicates he is connected to the Henrico thefts, but not Hanover.
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