Watertown police searching for alleged porch pirate who signed for a resident’s FedEx package

Watertown police are looking for a local porch pirate after a resident said a man signed for her FedEx package and quickly made off with the box.

Lela Glikes told WBZ News she saw a man follow a FedEx truck to her Emerson Road home, park his vehicle, and then walk up to her house as if he lived there. The man then allegedly walked over to the FedEx truck and signed for her package containing a $400 internet hotspot.

Gilkes said she yelled to the FedEx driver that the man didn’t live there and the package didn’t belong to him, but it was too late.

“The FedEx driver, and I were like shocked and went to stop him and he went like so fast. We thought he was going to run us over,” she told WBZ.

In a separate incident on Purvis Street, a home security camera caught a man dressed as a delivery driver swiping another package. Resident Ben Davini told WCVB the package contained a new cellphone, and FedEx had dropped it off just minutes earlier.

“He was just following the FedEx truck and I think they’re looking for boxes that hold an iPhone or an iPad or something like that. So it’s easy to get up, steal it and walk away real quickly,” Davini told the outlet.

The thefts are part of a string of similar incidents in recent weeks. Victims told WBZ that the suspect drives a blue minivan with temporary New Jersey license plates. 

Watertown police are looking into the matter. 

“Over the several days we have received reports of four package thefts from residential properties,” Watertown police wrote in a Facebook post on Friday. “Unfortunately, package thefts are not unusual and it is a widespread problem that spans well beyond Watertown. Our investigators are actively investigating and we have no other information to report at this time.”

Police asked that anyone who experiences package theft or has any information that could help with their investigation contact Det. Sgt. Lewis at [email protected].