iPhone transaction leads to an armed robbery in Florida, an iPad is stolen from a museum in Vermont, and an iPhone catches a suspected carjacker in Baltimore, all in this week's Apple Crime Blotter.
The latest in an occasional AppleInsider feature, looking at the world of Apple-related crime.
Man arrested after damaging Macau Apple Store during iPhone launch
A man accused of damaging a door at the Apple Store in Macau during the new iPhone launch was arrested after fleeing to mainland China and then attempting to re-enter Macau.
According to Macau Daily Times, Judiciary Police (PJ) said the man picked up a "30-centimeter iron rod" and a brick before attacking the Apple Store door. Video of the attack, during which the man was shirtless, had circulated on social media.
Police said the motive was unclear, and they're not sure whether it was connected to the man trying to buy the new iPhone.
iPhone transaction leads to armed robbery in Florida
A Facebook Marketplace meetup in which one man was to sell another an iPhone led instead to an armed robbery and kidnapping, leading to an arrest.
WSVN reports the two men planned to meet on Sept. 28 for the iPhone transaction, which went smoothly.
When the buyer reached out to the victim again on October 9 to sell him additional iPhones, the victim got into a car, and another man suddenly got up in the back seat and pointed a gun at his head and demanded money.
The car drove away with him in it, and at two different points the victim tried to escape. After successfully getting away, he received a threatening text message.
The man was later arrested and charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, grand theft, and tampering with a witness or victim.
iPad, donation box stolen from museum
Both an iPad and a donation box containing over $1,000 were stolen from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vermont, the museum said in a statement on October 12.
The museum removed admission fees in 2021 and runs entirely on donations.
iPhone leads to arrest in Baltimore carjackings
The Baltimore Police Department on October 8 arrested a 23-year-old man who they say was responsible for a series of carjackings of rideshare drivers in September.
Fox Baltimore explains that the man lured drivers to locations, got in the cars, and then stole the cars at gunpoint.
The man used internet-based phone numbers to schedule the rides, and he was caught, the report said, when "account, IP address and Apple records" pointed to his iPhone. A surveillance video also showed him holding an iPhone.
The man was charged with carjacking, first-degree assault, and use of a firearm in a violent crime.
AirTag found on car of Arkansas councilwoman
A city councilwoman in Lowell, Ark., discovered an AirTag attached to her vehicle in June, in a disagreement involving the mayor.
According to the Northwest Arkansas Gazette, Councilwoman Emilee Reach said she obtained the last four digits of the phone number attached to the same Apple account as the AirTag.
She claimed those numbers match a number belonging to the city's mayor, Chris Moore, against whom she had earlier filed an ethics complaint.
Reach claimed in a Facebook post that she has had to move her family out of their home, which is "approximately 600 feet" from where the mayor lives.
Moore flatly denied that he had anything to do with the AirTag, stating that "I have never placed an AirTag on anyone's car and certainly did not place an AirTag on Council Member Reach's car."
Find My iPhone leads to recovery of AirPods stolen from college football team's locker room
An 18-year-old in Iowa was arrested and charged with stealing AirPods and other items from the locker room of the Drake University football team.
KCCI reports one team member followed a Find My iPhone signal to the accused individual's home. After police obtained a warrant, they arrested him and charged him with second-degree theft and two counts of unauthorized use of a credit card.
Break-in claimed Mac Mini boxes, but not the computers
An early-October theft from an office in Tempe, Ariz., claimed some Mac Mini boxes, while leaving the actual computers behind.
According to Fox 10, a man broke into a tech company's offices and stole "dozens" of Mac Mini boxes, although he did not come away with the computers themselves.
Security video also caught him breaking a window and entering the office, but he stole the items by reaching through the broken window rather than stepping through it.
"Nope! Just empty boxes," one company employee told the TV station. "Our computers were right there in front of them. They just steal the boxes instead. Really low IQ."
Man accused of stealing iPad from Meijer store
A suspect stole an iPad from the counter of a Meijer store in the Cleveland area in early September, before fleeing in a white Volkswagen.
According to Cleveland.com, police suspect the same man in a similar theft at the chain's Richmond Heights location.