Overview of the Case
A group of 14 individuals has been charged with using insider information to steal electronics and cellphones being shipped to addresses in Long Island.
The defendants are facing a total of 50 charges related to a scheme that operated from October 2023 to February 2025, as reported by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
The prosecutors have not disclosed who provided the accused with insider FedEx delivery details regarding the timing and location of package deliveries.
“We believe that information was hacked,” stated Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney. He noted that accessing FedEx information “requires a certain level of sophistication.”
Andricson Jerez, 29, from the Bronx, is alleged to have led the operation by directing “runners” who received details such as device types, tracking numbers, and names along with Long Island addresses for packages from Verizon and AT&T.
The runners engaged in “porch piracy,” stealing packages and delivering them to a Bronx location identified by prosecutors as “the fencing location.”
From this fencing location, Jerez reportedly transported stolen phones and electronics to another Bronx address referred to as “the stash house.” He collaborated with his father Juan Baez, 48, to distribute these items to co-conspirators Fawaz Hameed, 35; Anzar Ali, 57; and Eddie Zaibak, 28, for sale both domestically and internationally.
Authorities discovered over 200 new phones and other electronic devices along with more than $100,000 in cash at the stash house. They also found a scanner capable of detecting unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers at Zaibak’s residence.
Some runners are accused of resorting to violence while committing thefts. Luger Guerrero, 26, from Manhattan allegedly pushed a FedEx driver down while stealing 15 Samsung devices on September 13, 2024. Felipe Batista, 22, also from the Bronx is accused of forcibly taking a package from a resident immediately after its delivery on September 18, 2024.
Leonel Tejeda Reynoso, 32 years old from the Bronx is accused of using fake identification to steal an iPad Pro valued at over $1,000 from a FedEx distribution center in Melville on October 8, 2024.
Jerez faces serious charges including one count of enterprise corruption, ten counts of third-degree grand larceny, twenty-eight counts of fourth-degree grand larceny, and ten counts of petit larceny. Additionally, he faces five separate indictments in Suffolk County for fourth-degree conspiracy charges. In New Jersey he is facing federal charges related to transporting stolen property.
