The Week in Electronics Retail Crime
Guns, needles, babies, and other instruments of CE theft
October 6, 2009 By Stephen Silver
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A customer at an Apple Store in Cincinnati was arrested after he showed employees a gun and threatened to shoot his broken iPhone. According to TV station WCPO, the man told employees he was so mad about the device not working, that "I could pop a 9mm at it." He then opened his jacket to reveal a handgun. After a store manager called police, the man was arrested and charged with aggravated menacing, as well as an additional weapons charge.
Florida Fugitive Caught After Stealing Games
A convicted robber and kidnapper who had used a fake identification to escape jail was arrested last month and charged with stealing several NIntendo DS games from a Walmart. According to the News Press newspaper the 32-year-old man, who was Lee County's most wanted fugitive, had escaped a jail sentence with a fake I.D. a few weeks earlier, and in late September attempted to leave a Walmart with the video games hidden in his clothes. After trying to shove a police officer, he was arrested and sent back to jail. He told police he had stolen the games to finance his heroin addiction.
Walmart Theft Ring Caught
One of two men who carried out a series of thefts of thousands of dollars in electronics from Walmart locations was arrested this week. According to the Wenatchee World newspaper in Washington state, the two men were seen pushing a shopping cart, which contained a stolen Dell computer, out of the fire exit of a Walmart, until they dropped the product and ran. They were later caught on video carrying out a similar theft at another store. The 19-year-old suspect was arrested at his home on suspicion of two counts of second-degree theft, after police compared notes.
Mailman Stole Netflix Discs
A former employee of the U.S. Postal Service plead guilty last month to stealing more than 3,000 DVD from Netflix envelopes in the mail. According to Home Media Magazine, the Massachusetts man committed the thefts over a 13-month period, and was caught on camera doing so, after Netflix noticed an unusual amount of missing DVDs. He agreed to return the DVDs and pay additional restitution. Another mail worker, in Houston, had carried out a nearly identical scheme in 2007.
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