With the holiday season underway, police in the El Paso–Las Cruces region are urging residents to stay alert as porch pirates become increasingly active. The rise in home delivery thefts—commonly referred to as “porch piracy”—typically spikes at this time of year due to higher delivery volumes and early nightfall, the Las Cruces Police Department said in a news release.
According to the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, roughly 25% of Americans have experienced package theft, with an estimated 58 million parcels stolen in 2024. Most stolen items were valued between $50 and $200.
On Monday, Dec. 1, El Paso police announced the arrest of a woman allegedly captured on home security video stealing packages in a Northwest neighborhood. Raquel Arenibas, 55, spent Thanksgiving weekend in the Downtown El Paso County jail following her Nov. 26 arrest. She is accused of taking two delivery packages from a porch during an incident two months earlier.
Police said a Ring camera recorded a woman getting out of a vehicle on Sept. 19, then walking to the front porch of a home in the 500 block of Queretaro Drive near Resler Drive and stealing two packages. Investigators identified the woman as Arenibas and obtained a warrant for theft of property under $100 with a previous conviction, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail.
Arenibas, a resident of Northwest El Paso, remained incarcerated as of Monday on a $1,500 bond, according to jail records. Court documents show a person with the same name has prior convictions for forgery, theft of property over $2,500, drug possession, and vehicle burglary.
