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Bill that would make all package thefts felonies advances in Kentucky Senate

If Senate Bill 23 bill becomes law, theft of any package delivered to someone's home could land a person in prison for five years.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — With the boom in online shopping, porch piracy has also been on the rise. 

Thursday, the Kentucky legislature took steps to close a loophole in the existing mail theft law so all package deliveries will be included, not just those made by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

"It's disappointing that people do that and get away with it," Sydney Oates said. 

Oates, who lives a few miles east of downtown, is one of the latest victims of porch piracy in the Metro. 

She said both she and her fiance were home when their packages got stolen earlier this week. 

"It is scary to think that we were both home and they did it in broad daylight," Oates said. "It had to have happened between 1:30 and 3 o'clock. The driver said it was delivered at 2:10, so in that window. It happened so quick."

Kentucky's mail theft law was written four decades ago and doesn't cover thefts of packages delivered by commercial companies, such as Amazon, UPS and FedEx. 

The existing law only covers deliveries made by USPS and states the mail and packages have to be delivered to a "letterbox, mail receptacle or other authorized depositories for mail matter," not near a person's front door which is where most package deliveries are left today. 

Senator David Yates, D-Louisville, is the bill's sponsor. 

He said right now, people who steal packages delivered by Amazon drivers can only be charged with a misdemeanor, not a felony, which is what they would be charged with if they stole a package delivered by a U.S. postal worker. 

Yates said he hopes changing the law will encourage police to spend more time investigating package thefts. 

"You could assign a detective to a Class B misdemeanor," Yates said. "They could investigate, they could take the doorbell videos and whatever and they could solve it, but we have learned in practice that is not happening."

If Senate Bill 23 bill becomes law, theft of any package delivered to someone's home would be considered a felony and could land a person in prison for five years. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved SB23 Thursday. 

It now heads to the Senate floor for consideration. The bill would also need to make it through the house before it could go to the governor. 

RACHEL DROZE

Contact reporter Rachel Droze at rdroze@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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