Detectives say 36-year-old Frank Merlo walked up and snatched a box from a 72-year-old man's front porch on Eastern Parkway in Baldwin Thursday.
The incident was captured on Ring surveillance video.
Officers found Merlo at the Baldwin train station about two hours later.
Police say he had a white rock, believed to be crack cocaine.
Merlo is facing charges including petit larceny.
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