South Philadelphia residents rally outside home they say is linked to package theft ring

Residents in South Philadelphia say package theft has surged in their neighborhood, and some believe squatters are responsible for the majority of disappearing packages.

Now neighbors are organizing rallies and calling on city officials to shut the property down.

Anthony Giordano, a South Philadelphia resident and founder of the Facebook group "Stand Up South Philly and Take Our Streets Back," said stolen deliveries have become a growing problem.

"I'm gonna say hundreds, maybe thousands of packages have been stolen," Giordano said. "And other than that, they're also breaking into vehicles."

Giordano recently organized a neighborhood rally outside a home on the 1600 block of Wolf Street. He and other residents believe a group of squatters is operating a theft ring from the property and storing stolen packages inside.

"I don't know what's taking the city so long to make this place a nuisance residence, shut it down, condemn the property, board it up, and have the person who owns the property be able to sell that property," Giordano said.

Residents who attended the rally said the situation has left many neighbors uneasy.

"You have elderly people, you have people that live alone. It's very scary," Elisa Pescatore, who lives nearby, said.

Pescatore said she has seen how the alleged thieves operate.

"Amazon comes, makes a delivery, they're right behind him," she said. "They're picking up the package. He's not going to risk his life."

She said suspects have been seen collecting multiple deliveries at once.

"They're shopping with IKEA bags, picking up huge amounts of packages that belong to the neighborhood," Pescatore said.

Philadelphia police said they have confirmed two reported theft cases connected to the investigation so far. No arrests have been made.

Investigators say one challenge is that many victims are not filing official police reports.

Police say they have increased patrols in the neighborhood and alerted residents about the recent rise in thefts. However, authorities say they have not been able to directly link reported incidents to the property on Wolf Street.

Despite that, residents say they will continue organizing and pushing for action.

"We'll just continue to get bigger, stronger, rally more, put the pressure on for the officials to do what they've sworn to do — keep peace and unity in the city of Philadelphia," Giordano said.