Crime blotter: Apple Store thefts in Southern California continue
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Apple Store at the Americana at Brand. After two similar thefts at Apple Stores in the Los Angeles area, another has been reported. Meanwhile, a hit-and-run of a police car resulted in the discovery of a pile of stolen Macs and iPads. The latest in an occasional AppleInsider series, looking at the world of Apple-related crime.
In early December, there were a pair of reports that MacBooks were stolen from two different Apple Stores, both in Glendale, Calif. The customers who had ordered the computers showed up only to be told that someone else had impersonated the buyer and taken the item.
Now, there are reports that at least four such thefts have happened just in the Los Angeles area this month. According to NBC Los Angeles, a thief used a fake ID and QR code to intercept a 16-inch MacBook Pro. One of the victims said he received a pending credit from Apple for the amount of the purchase.
After a theft was reported at a Nissan car dealership in Fort Myers, Fla., in early December, an AirPods signal led police to the stolen items and an arrest. WINK reports $100,000 worth of toolboxes and tools had been stolen. One of those toolboxes contained the AirPods, so detectives from the Lee County Sheriff's Office followed the signal to a storage facility.
The man renting a unit there was caught on surveillance footage loading the toolboxes in, and he turned out to have been a former employee of the dealership. Found at his current place of employment, a different dealership, the man was arrested and charged with larceny, grand theft, and burglary.
