Porch Piracy A Felony Under Bill Passed Wednesday By GA House

ATLANTA — With everyone shopping online, should porch pirates — thieves who steal packages left on porches — be charged as felons?

A Gwinnett County legislator thinks so. And most of Georgia’s House of Representatives agree.

The House voted Wednesday 101-67 to pass House Bill 94, making porch piracy a felony in Georgia, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Stealing packages from doorsteps is already considered a theft, usually a misdemeanor. This new measure would make porch piracy a separate crime, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

State Rep. Bonnie Rich, a Republican from Suwanee, told the Atlanta newspaper that porch piracy is an “epidemic” that threatens many of her Gwinnett County constituents. Yet those thefts are often given short shrift by police because most stolen packages are worth less than $500, qualifying them only as misdemeanors.

Making porch piracy a felony would serve as a deterrent, Rich said. It may also encourage police to take those thefts as seriously as package recipients do

“What if you’re inside the home, waiting for your medication inside that package?,” asked Rep. Chuck Efstration of Dacula as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “What if you don’t get it because someone took it off your porch?”

Representatives who voted against the bill regard it as overkill, putting more people in jail for what amounts to a petty crime.

The bill now moves to the Georgia Senate.

Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas already prosecute some porch pirates as felons. A law targeting porch piracy in South Carolina is under consideration.

Read the story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.