Neighborhood porches are popular spots for package deliveries and thefts
Have you gone to your porch to collect a package after receiving a virtual delivery notice, only to find the item nowhere in sight? The number of packages stolen after home delivery is now so common that the term “porch pirate,” slang term for package theft, is well known to all.
With the rise and ease of e-commerce shopping, consumers also have made it easier for package thieves. Packages left outside at the delivery address provide easy access to anyone. Those with nefarious intent may target areas with high deliveries, or are even known to follow a delivery truck, reaching packages before the intended addressees. Front door surveillance cameras are in prevalent use as a deterrent. Rising thefts also are leading delivery services and customers to seek alternate delivery options, such as: package lockers, or using alternate addresses or setting delivery times when someone is available to receive the packages.
Del. Vivian Watts (D-14) and Sen. Saddam Salim (D-37) sponsored near identical bills in their respective legislative bodies in this session of the General Assembly in response to constituents’ frustration with the growing problem. Watts was particularly concerned with rising check theft. She says, "Mail theft has significantly increased with over half of altered checks being re-written for over $14,000. The bank account number and routing information also can be sold to syndicates who will use them in identity theft.”
Mail theft, or receipt of stolen mail, is a serious crime under federal law. Depending upon the gravity of the crime, according to 18 U.S. Code § 1708, those found guilty of mail theft face the possibility of fines up to $250,000 and imprisonment for up to five years, or both. Watts shares that having a State law augments law enforcement powers. “Giving all law enforcement the power to go after this criminal activity will be much more effective than depending on a small number of federal law enforcement officers. In addition, since "mail theft" under federal law has always included stealing packages, this new state law also applies to stealing any package delivered your home or left for you in the apartment lobby. This includes any on-line orders or direct deliveries from retailers.”
Both bills passed with near unanimous bipartisan support in their respective bodies. They can be expected to go to the governor’s desk for signature after being combined into a single bill, and passed by the full General Assembly later this month. The bill language would add a new section to Virginia Code §18.2-110.1 to create the category of “mail theft” to the list of State crimes. Mail is defined in the section in its broadest terms. Theft of mail would include “any letter, postal card, parcel, package, bag or other material along with its contents.” That means that check theft, as mail content, is covered.
The Code makes fraudulent interference with mail a State Class 6 felony. Mail theft would join a host of other named crimes in the Code at various levels of penalties, from Class 1 to 4 misdemeanors, and Class 1 to 6 felonies. The highest level of seriousness being Class 1, and the lowest Class 4 or 6. Examples of listed crimes in Virginia include: unauthorized use of dairy milk cases or crates — a Class 4 misdemeanor; removing a shopping cart from store premises — a Class 3 misdemeanor; altering a price tag on a product to defraud the seller — either petit or grand larceny, depending upon the article’s value. Mail theft would be on a par with receipt of a stolen firearm — a Class 6 felony; participation in an organized retail theft ring is a Class 3 felony.