Kit Roberts
A man has found a very hands on way to get back at 'porch pirates' who have been targeting his neighbourhood.
Carlos Mejia of Queens decided to take matters into his own hands after being targeted a number of times by the thefts.
For those who don't know, a 'porch pirate' is someone who steals delivery packages which have been left by the door of a property.
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It's sort of like a lucky dip of thieving, you never know what you're going to get.
And while the people who targeted Mejia's home may not have known what they were going to get, they still managed to get more than they expected when they realised the measures he was taking.
Mejia explained that he and his wife had lost dozens of packages this way when thieves repeatedly targeted their porch.
In the end, things got so bad that Mejia decided to lay a trap for the next person to target his packages.
So what did he do?
Mejia laid out a bait package, which looked like something had just been dropped off at the house.
Maybe a new jacket like the one his wife had stolen from the porch, or an expensive electrical device or something similar.
Instead, the package was filled with stale french fries, used puppy training pads, and dog faeces. Talk about a dirty bomb.
But that wasn't it, because when a thief took the bait and targeted the porch, Mejia himself came out carrying a baseball bat.
It wasn't the thief who had previously taken a pair of expensive sneakers Mejia had ordered, instead it was 36-year-old Victor Stazzone.
Mejia told ABC: "I wasn't thinking at the moment. It was just anger. I wanted to hurt him. But I know that if I had, I would have been in trouble."
Fortunately, Mejia did not actually hurt Stazzone, but instead prevented him from escaping his porch.
He then called the police and waited there with Stazzone until they arrived and were able to deal with him.
A clip captured by doorbell camera of the interaction went viral.
Mejia warned would-be porch pirates that the prospect may be tempting, but you have no idea how the person in the house will react if they catch you.
He said: "Cause today it was me with a bat. That somebody else could pull out a shotgun and not be as nice as I was, you know? And losing your life for $200. It's not what you want."
Ahh, New York.