Woman charged with two Apple Store thefts

A $15 million trailer theft includes Apple products, multiple iPhone thefts are reported in the nation’s capital, and an airline is sued over a stolen iPad, in this week’s Apple Crime Blotter.

The latest in an occasional AppleInsider series, looking at the world of Apple-related crime.

Woman charged with pair of thefts from Scotland Apple Store

An 18-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with a pair of thefts of iPhones from the Braehead Apple Store in Glasgow, on June 1 and July 9.

Per The BBC, the woman was charged in the two thefts, totaling a value of 17,000 pounds (the equivalent of $22,853). Different accomplices, a 19-year-old man in the first incident and a 42-year-old woman in the second, were also arrested.

Truck shipment with millions worth of Apple products, semiconductors stolen

A semi-trailer owned by Ceva Logistics and containing $15 million worth of Apple products and semiconductors was stolen in Reno, Nev., in early July. It’s a crime that remains under investigation, Freight Waves reported.

AppleInsider reported more about the high-dollar thefts, which escaped the notice of most media for more than a month.

The stolen cargo contained AMD processors as well as Apple products, but it’s not clear what the breakdown was of each, or which Apple items were included. The trailer, which had been transported from Sacramento to Reno, “was left at a lot after hours where there were no guards or fencing, detached from the tractor.”

Multiple iPhone thefts reported in Washington

There were two reports of thefts involving iPhones in Northwest Washington, D.C., in late July and early August, but only one led to the president of the United States threatening to revoke the capital’s home rule.

WJLA reported on July 31 that a man was robbed at gunpoint in Northwest D.C. and had numerous items stolen, including two iPhone 16 Pros, four MacBook Pros, two backpacks and his car.

One of the iPhones and two of the MacBooks were recovered.

Then, on Sunday, August 3, suspects approached a pair of victims and “demanded the victim’s vehicle and then assaulted one of the victims,” the police department said. A Metropolitan Police Department cruiser pulled onto the block while the assault was in progress, and arrested two of the suspects.

According to journalist Will Sommer, who obtained the police report, among the victims in the second crime was Edward Coristine, formerly a semi-prominent member of Elon Musk’s DOGE team, known by the nickname “Big Balls.” That report lists a stolen black iPhone 16 as part of the “vehicle/property and items summary.”

For perhaps that reason, President Donald Trump has announced plans to deploy the National Guard in the city and threatened to overrule the Home Rule Act, which would give the federal government greater control over the capital.

“We just almost lost a young man, beautiful, handsome guy that got the hell knocked out of him,” Trump told reporters this week, according to Reuters.

Man sentenced for Facebook Marketplace robberies

Also in Washington, a 20-year-old man was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison in late July, after he was convicted of a pair of armed robberies in 2023.

According to WUSA, the man had arranged to buy a MacBook in one of the incidents, and to sell iPhones in the other. In both incidents, he showed up and robbed his counterparty. In the latter case, he and an accomplice hit the victim in the face with a handgun.

Delta Airlines sued by family over child’s stolen iPad that was later used for explicit videos

A South Carolina family has sued Delta Airlines, claiming that their child left an iPad behind on a plane, and an airline employee then used the iPad to record “sexually explicit videos of himself.” In 2023, those videos were later uploaded to iCloud and discovered by the parents, The Guardian writes.

The lawsuit is for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and harassment, and alleges that Delta’s response to the incident was insufficient.

The airline, while claiming “zero tolerance for unlawful behavior of any kind,” told the newspaper that the person in question “is not a Delta employee but one of a vendor company.”

The family’s attorney gave a local TV news interview, in which he shared that the iPad was decorated with the likeness of Peppa Pig:

The suit claims that the photos uploaded to iCloud showed the man “in his Delta uniform with his name badge visible,” and that later videos showed the man engaging in sex acts, while still wearing the uniform and badge.

San Francisco nightclub raid was connected to newly indicted Oregon iPhone ring

The San Francisco Police Department in early August conducted a late-night raid of an allegedly illegal nightclub suspected of involvement in “drugs and sex crimes.” Also, according to SFist, one of the people arrested had been wanted for a series of armed iPhone shipment thefts in Oregon.

The man was one of five indicted this week on federal charges that they conspired to steal iPhone shipments at gunpoint. Those suspects reportedly impersonated FBI agents while committing the thefts.

Man tracks down father’s stolen iPhone, thanks to “worn-out flip flops”

A Toronto man named Jason Zhao successfully tracked his father’s iPhone after it was stolen from a supermarket in July.

Per The Toronto Star, Zhao started tracking the stolen iPhone, when “a random photo” appeared on a different device, the father’s iPad. The thief, he found, had “accidentally opened the camera and took a photo of his own feet.”

Those feet were clad in what Zhao described as “a very distinctive pair of worn-out flip-flops.”

Zhao kept tracking the iPhone’s location, eventually spotting it at a casino, to which he drove and ended up finding the suspect in person, recognizing him by those shoes, as well as the audible alert sound. It took multiple calls to police, but eventually they arrived and arrested the thief.

Two arrested after iPad “grab and run” from Walmart

Two men from West Palm Beach, Fla., were arrested after attempting to steal iPads from a Walmart in Coconut Creek and fleeing on foot. According to TAPinto Coconut Creek, the two men are suspected to be part of a wider theft ring in Broward County.

Per the news report, the pair, who are 22 and 23 years old, walked into the Walmart, asked employees to show them iPads, and then grabbed them and ran out of the store. Police in the parking lot saw them ran, blocked their car’s path out of the lot, and chased them down.

Both men were charged with grand theft and resisting arrest without violence, while one of them got an additional charge of violating probation.