Photo by Brooke Thorington
A bill is heading to the Senate floor that would toughen penalties against porch pirates. Abbeville Senator Bob Hensgens’ legislation would give judges the authority to sentence a thief to 60 days in jail if they steal packages from several homes. Major Willie Stewart with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office says porch pirates are a big problem
“What they’ll do is get behind an Amazon truck and follow it to a neighborhood. Driver gets off start making deliveries. They go behind him and they’re wiping out a whole neighborhood at a time.”
Sarah Whittington with the Justice and Accountability Center of Louisiana opposed the bill. She says there are already laws on the books addressing theft and specific punishment for porch pirates will not help the situation…
“Because an individual that sees a package on my porch is not going to stop and say “Wait a second, I might get 60 days of DOC time. Let me leave whatever on the porch on the porch.”
New Iberia Senator Blake Miguez, a member of the Judiciary C Committee, believes this legislation can make a porch pirate think twice…
“This will send a strong message to those that are doing this to stop doing it. Cause if they’re doing it repeatedly and it’s not just a one time occurrence you would think 60 days in prison would deter crime.”
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