Pennsylvania
Porch pirate just snatches package from homeowner’s hands mere seconds after it’s delivered: video
A brazen-faced porch pirate was caught on surveillance video snatching a package worth thousands of dollars right out of the hands of a homeowner in a matter of seconds.
The bold theft happened Tuesday in Montgomery County, PA, at around 3 p.m., when the victim, identified only as Henry, was retrieving the package containing six iPhones for his family, according to ABC 6.
The thief can be seen running up to Henry’s door, bolting past an Amazon driver dropping off another delivery, as the homeowner bends over to pick up the high-value package.
In a flash, the porch pirate — wearing a black “Guess” shirt and a black Philadelphia Phillies baseball hat — yanks the package away from Henry and runs off toward a light tan-colored sedan with tinted windows that was waiting for him at the edge of the property, the video shows.
“Once he gets in the back of the car, he just flew up the street,” Henry told the local news station.
The shameless robbery left the homeowner shaken.
“Now every time you open the door for delivery, you have to watch out,” he said.
He believes the thief targeted the package containing thousands of dollars worth of phones. Henry said he saw the same sedan drive past his house moments before the shocking theft.
“They see the FedEx, they u-turn and then they come up the block and come right in front of the FedEx,” he said.
Even odder — moments after the theft, Henry said he received a mysterious phone call from an unknown number asking him to return the six phones that were just stolen.
He explained what happened to the caller but was immediately hung up on.
“That’s kind of weird too,” Henry said. “Both of them happened at the same time.”
In Pennsylvania, stealing packages from someone’s front steps could now be considered a felony offense, thanks to a law signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro in December that was officially enacted in February.
Senate Bill 527 has enacted stricter penalties for repeat offenders and people who steal higher-value packages.
The law makes porch piracy a third-degree felony if the value of the stolen items exceeds $2,000 or the accused thief has two or more prior convictions for mail theft.
Any thief convicted under the law can face up to seven years in prison.
An estimated $6 billion worth of goods were stolen by porch pirates across the US in 2023, according to statistics released by home security tip company SafeWise.
An estimated 113 million packages were nabbed off doorsteps, which was a 5% increase from 2022.
Over half of all stolen packages were delivered by Amazon.
71% of all packages stolen were valued at $100 or less, according to SafeWise.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania
What the war with Iran could mean for gas prices in western Pennsylvania
The war with Iran could start impacting your wallet as soon as today.
Jim Garrity from AAA East Central says oil prices are up.
“They’re hovering around $72. They were pretty consistently around $65, $66 for a while,” he said.
Nationally, AAA said the average for a gallon of regular sits at about $3, up approximately six cents from last week.
In Pennsylvania, it’s around $3.12 a gallon, and in the Pittsburgh region, it’s around $3.24 a gallon. That’s actually down about four cents from last week.
Garrity added that gas prices this time of year would already be increasing, usually because of higher demand for the warmer months and the production of the summer blend of gas used for those months.
The impacts of what’s happening in Iran may not be immediate, which could be part of why our region and the state overall have not seen a spike yet, he said.
“It could be a couple of days later. It could be up to a week later,” Garrity said.
A lot of people are watching what happens with the Strait of Hormuz. Iran borders it to the north, and 20% of the world’s oil goes through it.
Iran is one of the world’s biggest oil producers, and China gets a lot of that oil.
“If there is an impact there, you could see oil start to come in from other parts of the world, which has a downstream effect on [the United States],” Garrity said.
One way you can save on gas if prices increase in our area is by slowing down.
“When you drive faster every five miles, over 50 miles an hour, your fuel efficiency is going down,” Garrity said. “You’re making the car work harder, making the gasoline consumption less effective.”
Garrity added that in 2022, when our area and many others saw some of the highest gas prices ever recorded, people changed their driving habits.
“We saw people make seemingly permanent changes to their driving behaviors, driving less in general, consolidating trips,” he said.
Pennsylvania
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