$16,000 Worth of iPhones Stolen from Charlotte Apple Store in Apparent Inside Job

Tuesday February 21, 2012 9:24 PM PST by Eric Slivka
The Charlotte Observer reports that a total of 25 iPhones valued at over $16,000 have been reported stolen from Apple's Northlake Mall retail store in Charlotte, North Carolina. While smash-and-grab robberies are not terribly unusual at Apple retail stores, this case has an unusual twist in that the suspect appears to have been an employee of the store.
“The iPhones were stolen from the Genius Room located inside of the store," a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police report says. "The suspect did have access to the Genius Room."

The stolen phones, which are valued at $16,425, include 22 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S models, one 64-GB 4S model, one eight-GB iPhone 4 model and one 32-GB 4S model.
Charlotte's WBTV confirms that the suspect was a store employee and that the 25 phones were stolen over a period of time between December 1 and January 11. Police are reportedly searching for the suspect.


Apple's Northlake Mall retail store is one of two in the Charlotte area, having just opened last August.

92 comments


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dukebound85
95 months ago
find my iphone(s)?
Rating: 25 Votes
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SvenSvenson
95 months ago

It Doesn't Say Much for Charlotte, Does it?
I'm sorry, Charlotte has really built itself up in the last several years, but this is astonishing, and disappointing.


Let's go with that logic, shall we?

It doesn't say much for:

Apple Employees
People who want to own iPhones
Residents of Charlotte
Residents of North Carolina
Americans
Shop workers
Men/Women (Delete as applicable)
Whites/Blacks/Asians/Indians/etc (Delete as applicable)
People

Kinda hard to generalise fron one person's actions.

Steve
Rating: 24 Votes
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soco
95 months ago

Dear God... there's a family stuck inside that store! :eek:
Rating: 14 Votes
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hobo.hopkins
95 months ago
It's really unfortunate that someone would take advantage of their position in that way, although I'm confident that it won't take long to find and arrest him/her.

It Doesn't Say Much for Charlotte, Does it?

I'm sorry, Charlotte has really built itself up in the last several years, but this is astonishing, and disappointing.


I don't think this says anything about Charlotte; just the lengths to which thieves will go.
Rating: 13 Votes
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wordoflife
95 months ago
They're going to find the employee, and he's going to get in trouble - probably put behind bars.

Not sure why people do these stupid things.
Rating: 10 Votes
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timbo400
95 months ago

They're going to find the employee, and he's going to get in trouble - probably put behind bars.

Not sure why people do these stupid things.


Durrrr, for money?

Why else do you think people drug deal, prostitute, steal organs and the list of illegal things carry on.

Whether they're going to find him/her is if they're still in the country and if there's enough evidence to convict the suspect.

I'm sorry, Charlotte has really built itself up in the last several years, but this is astonishing, and disappointing.


I'm sorry but internet posters have really built themselves up over the last several years, but this is astonishing and disappointing to read such a generalisation. /s

PS. No matter where you're or where you're at from you can still commit crime. It's the individual's mindset for greed.
Rating: 10 Votes
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Saladinos
95 months ago
I wouldn't think this says anything about the place. Honestly, this could have happened anywhere.
Rating: 9 Votes
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ProVideo
95 months ago
Those cutouts of the people look creepy in that empty store.
Rating: 9 Votes
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rocknblogger
95 months ago
What's astonishing is that someone actually used "astonishing and disappointing" in reference to a daily occurrence in every state and city on earth!!
Rating: 7 Votes
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MCP-511
95 months ago
Every unit has a unique UDID. I would think Apple knows what batch went where and a few minutes looking threw their records would yield the UDIDs of the stolen devices. My guess is, soon as one is activated or it hits an Apple server for anything, Apple will be able to locate it and eventually it will be traced back to the perpetrator of the crime.
Rating: 5 Votes
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