Security camera footage shows the moment a suspected porch pirate walked into a Queens homeowner’s trap by trying to steal a fake parcel deliberately left on the stoop.
Carlos Mejia said he was “done” with thieves raiding his parcels and decided to take matters into his own hands last week by leaving out “decoy packages” outside his door with the aim of catching one of the bandits in the act.
“I was just trying to make an example for those out there doing the same thing … stealing from others,” Mejia told Storyful.
Video from Mejia’s home security system shows a man entering his yard on Saturday, approaching the front steps, grabbing a box and trying to stuff it into his backpack.
At that moment a visibly angry Mejia storms out of his house wielding a baseball bat.
“Oh, s–t, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, I just didn’t want nobody to take him, bro!” the terrified suspect exclaims.
“What you got in there?” Mejia asks, to which the alleged thief brazenly claims that the item in the bag belongs to him.
“You can have everything, bro,” the man cries out while being threatened with the bat.
Police were called and arrested the suspected porch pirate, identified as 30-year-old Victor Stazzone. He is facing charges of petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, and criminal trespass.
