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New details on the New Jersey counterfeiting indictment, Brad Pitt’s home was burgled while promoting “F1: The Movie,” and more charges in the Los Angeles Apple Store looting feature in this week’s Apple Crime Blotter.
The latest in an occasional AppleInsider series, looking at the world of Apple-related crime.
Seven men were indicted in California on June 17, accused of carrying out what prosecutors call the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history.
The 2022 thefts, per the Department of Justice, included “$100 million worth of gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and luxury watches.” Five of the defendants are also accused of stealing $57,377 worth of Apple AirTags.
The indictment accuses the men of breaking into a Brinks semitruck that was being transported from an international jewelry show in San Francisco to the Los Angeles area.
Two months before the jewelry heist, the DOJ said, five of the seven defendants stole $240,573 worth of Samsung products from a cargo shipment in Ontario. They later “robbed a box truck driver” of the AirTags.
More on the Apple counterfeiting arrest in New Jersey
AppleInsider reported on June 23 about the arrest of a New Jersey electronics store owner for selling more than 100 counterfeit Apple products.
Now, more information has been released, including the name of the store.
According to TAPinto East Orange/Orange, the man charged is 63-year-old Mahmoud Salim, who operated the “Super Star” electronics store in Orange, N.J. The store remains closed, the report said.
“The counterfeit market is not just a corporate issue — it directly affects public trust, safety, and the local economy,” a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office told the media outlet. “This operation is part of our broader strategy to remove fraudulent goods from Essex County’s communities.”
Man charged with commercial burglary in Los Angeles Apple Store looting
Following the unrest in Los Angeles during protests against ICE raids that included looting of a downtown Apple Store, Los Angeles’s district attorney announced a new wave of criminal charges on June 17 against five defendants.
This included charges for one man accused of participating in the Apple Store looting.
According to the prosecutor’s press release, a 39-year-old Los Angeles man was charged with one felony count of second-degree commercial burglary.
The man is accused of “being in a group of people who forced their way into an Apple Store in the 800 block of South Broadway to loot items,” and faces up to six years in prison.
K-9 dog helps catch iPhone thief
Police tracking a stolen iPhone in Washington State were able to catch a wanted man, thanks to help from a K-9 dog named Riff.
Apple Valley News Now reports officers with the Richland Police Department and Benton County Sheriff’s Department were tracking the iPhone when they confronted the suspect. When he tried to run away, Riff and his handler successfully tracked him to his hiding place.
The man was charged with theft and unlawful possession of a gun.
Brad Pitt, the longtime Hollywood A-lister who is starring in the Apple-produced blockbuster film “F1 The Movie,” had his Los Angeles-area mansion ransacked while he was on a press tour promoting the film’s release.
Per Page Six, the robbery took place Wednesday night, and “three suspects scaled a fence and broke in through a front window before fleeing with an unknown amount of items.”
The actor was not home at the time, and there have been no reports of exactly what was taken.
Senator calls for national ban on phones in K-12 schools
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) on June 26 delivered a speech in which she called for a national ban on cell phones in K-12 schools.
She also declared that “Congress and the courts should hold social media companies accountable for using algorithms that get our kids addicted to extreme content.” Also, she insisted “if we’ve learned anything from the Internet revolution, the tech industry will not police itself.”
Slotkin has not yet introduced legislation, although she did co-sponsor a bill to ban cell phones in schools administered by the military.
As of April, 11 U.S. states had banned cell phones in schools, as have numerous individual school districts.
Some jurisdictions that have passed such bans have found them difficult to enforce, and they typically don’t have criminal penalties attached.
Apple has not taken an official position on such bans.
Stolen AirPods lead to two arrests in Connecticut
Two residents from Kentucky who were camping in Rhode Island reported items stolen from their car, including a pair of AirPods. Police then tracked the AirPods to a residence in Ansonia, Conn.
According to CT Post, after obtaining a search warrant, police entered the residence and found eight of the 11 stolen items. They also discovered “30 folds of suspected heroin,” leading to additional narcotics charges for the accused thief and a woman who also lives in Ansonia.
Florida woman arrested for hiding AirTag in man’s car
A woman in Pasco County, Florida, was arrested after police say she hid an AirTag in the backseat of a man’s car.
WLFA reports the owner of the car was formerly in a relationship with a woman. The man told police that he had moved out of his ex’s house and not told her where he was going, but then found the AirTag in his car.
On a visit to the ex’s house, where he went to pick up some items, he had seen a 22-year-old woman who dated the ex’s son in the backseat of the car. It was the 22-year-old who was arrested and charged with installing tracking devices.
iPhone 12 mini reportedly saves a woman’s life from a crossbow shot
A Norwegian man has been arrested in Thailand for firing a crossbow at a woman- and the woman’s iPhone 12 mini “took the hit” and saved her life.
According to Khaosod, the man firing the crossbow was “heavily intoxicated” and acting erratically. When he fired, the arrow struck the iPhone, which she was holding to her ear.
The alleged shooter was found at a bus terminal, arrested, and charged with attempted murder.
