Police Nab Porch Pirates With GPS Tracker

ARCADIA, CA — Police in Duarte foiled three would-be grinches Thursday with a sting operation to targeting package thieves.

The Arcadia Police Department placed decoy packages with GPS trackers in them around Arcadia and neighboring cities to catch package thieves taking advantage of a holiday season where more people are buying gifts online due to the pandemic. They nabbed three suspects who allegedly stole mail and packages from Arcadia and surrounding cities, according to Sgt. Ernest Lopez of the Arcadia Police Department.

This GPS-tracked package was taken from the area of South Sixth Avenue and led officers to the intersection of East Duarte Road and Buena Vista Street, where the suspects were in possession of other packages reported stolen, according to Lopez.

With families celebrating Hanukkah through Friday, and Christmas coming up in just over a week, the Arcadia Police Department reminded residents to protect their packages by:

• having packages rescheduled or delivered to a trusted neighbor, friend or family member in the event that no one will be home when the package is scheduled to arrive;
• adding locks to mailboxes; and
• bringing packages inside immediately after they're delivered.

The names of the suspects were not immediately available from the Arcadia Police Department.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.