‘Sophisticated' crew allegedly used insider info to steal FedEx deliveries for 2 years

Fourteen people have been indicted for what prosecutors on Long Island are calling a highly coordinated porch-piracy ring.

The pre-holiday bust in Suffolk County alleges the group stole more than 200 smartphones from customers’ doorsteps in 31 communities stretching from Huntington to Montauk.

Surveillance videos show how the suspects would snatch them up moments after the packages were dropped off. In one instance, video shows two men rip a package out of the hands of a FedEx delivery person.

The group of 14 suspects face over 50 felony charges stemming from a two-year investigation.

“For two years, this alleged porch pirate ring plagued our community and built a criminal enterprise on the backs of Suffolk families and businesses,” said District Attorney Raymond Tierney in a statement.

Andricson Jerez, 29, is the group’s alleged ringleader. Prosecutors say he lead a “network” of runners who were given FedEx tracking details from Verizon and AT&T shipments bound for Suffolk County.

The phones were later stashed in a house in the Bronx and eventually sold to wholesalers.  When investigators performed a raid back in Feb. of 2025, they allegedly found more than 200 phones and over $100,000 in cash.

According to Tierney, the runners were tipped off to the FedEx deliveries with “insider knowledge as to the contents of the packages to be delivered.”

Operation turns violent

Prosecutors identified at least two instances where members of the so-called “porch pirate” ring turned violent. During a four-week span last fall, a delivery driver and a homeowner were injured.

The FedEx worker was delivering a package of Samsung tablets when he was ambushed by the robbery crew on Sept. 13, 2024. According to prosecutors, the driver was “violently pushed” outside of a Hauppauge business.

Less than a week later, another member of the crew “forcibly” stole a package from a Long Island resident moments after it was delivered.