Man Uses Grubhub Guise To Steal Packages In Boston, Brookline: PD

BROOKLINE, MA — After an off-duty police officer saw something a little suspicious about a man with Grubhub and DoorDash bags putting packages into his bag rather than delivering food, police arrested him. "[A] GrubHub and Door dash guise doesn't work when you have police and the public working together to eliminate package thefts," police tweeted Friday

A representative from Grubhub told Patch in an email they were aware of the accusations involving the man, who they called a "delivery partner."

"Although the driver has not made any deliveries for us since last year, we immediately began an investigation upon learning of the allegations and terminated our contract with this driver. We are cooperating with local authorities and have zero tolerance for this type of behavior by our delivery partners," said a Grubhub spokesperson in a statement.

The company representative said when hiring delivery partners they perform an "extensive motor vehicle and criminal background check" before contracting. They also look at federal, state and local records available to them by law and periodically re-run these checks while any driver is contracted with them.

On Thursday at about 4:15 p.m., an off-duty Brookline police officer made note of a suspicious man going into an apartment building on Beacon Street near Summit Avenue. The officer, who happened to be nearby, watched as the man placed what appeared to be a previously delivered parcel into a Grubhub-labeled insulated delivery shoulder bag.

The officer contacted dispatch and reported what he saw, prompting officers to come check it out. As the other officers were on their way, the off-duty police officer asked the man what he was doing, to which he said he was making a delivery to an upper floor in the building, police said.

The man then went up the stairs and came back with an empty delivery bag. He then told police he was a Grubhub and DoorDash employee, but after a quick investigation, police determined he had not delivered for either company in weeks, they said.

Police said they found that no one in the multi-story building had requested food delivery from either company that day, and that the man had used a screwdriver to pick the lock to get inside.

Police said they found a 2012 white Dodge Caravan registered to him on Fairbanks Street with more than a dozen Amazon packages within plain view.

Police arrested Juan Guillermo Jr., 38, of Lawrence, and charged him with breaking and entering during the daytime, several counts of larceny, possession of burglarious tools, larceny in a building and multiple counts of receiving stolen property based on the stolen packages located inside the van after the execution of a search warrant

Police said Guillermo had been stealing packages from residences in Brookline and Brighton. He is set to be arraigned Friday in Brookline District Court.

Patch has reached out to DoorDash.

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).