A FedEx delivery driver was caught completely off guard recently when a man stole a package directly from her hands in broad daylight.
The incident happened in Chesterfield, Virginia, on Aug. 30, leaving the FedEx driver in a state of panic. She was walking up to the door when an unidentified man was stalking right behind her. According to the FedEx driver, the man had claimed that the package was his before he moved in, snatched it out of her hands, and fled to a white BMW.
“I looked at the camera, and the lady, she couldn’t even speak, and she was shaking,” Jessica Saenz said in an interview with “Good Morning America.” “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Like this guy, right in front of my door, grabbing the package and just running away.
The FedEx driver quickly made her way to the door to alert Saenz that the $1,600 iPad meant for her husband had been stolen.
“It was unbelievable because it was right outside of my house, and I could have, I could have — this guy could have broken into my house and taken it from me,” Saenz said in another interview with WBBT.
Saenz claimed later in the interview that she believes that the thief somehow knew what was being delivered that day, and that’s why he stole the package.
Middle Tennessee State University criminal justice administration professor Ben Stickle advises those who may be worried about porch pirates to consider taking some precautions.
“So anytime you can, you should have a package delivered to a trusted neighbor, perhaps to a storefront, somewhere where you frequent, or even a parcel locker system,” he told “GMA.” “So that way, the only thing that comes between you and your package is you and not anyone else.”
The FedEx delivery driver managed to get the number on the car’s license plate, and it was later discovered that the car was associated with a prior robbery.
If caught, the suspect could be facing a robbery charge, according to Michigan attorney Steve Lehto.
“Most people want to think, ‘Well, I take something that doesn’t belong to me, that’s theft,’” Lehto said in his YouTube video about the situation. “When you grab it from someone’s possession, it is robbery. Usually, that’s what they’d call that in most states: robbery, which is stealing from another person.”
FedEx has released a statement regarding the incident.
“The safe and secure delivery of our customers’ shipment is our top priority. We are working with local authorities as they investigate the incident,” the company said.
