Technology: Apple Store Robberies

Due to Blogspot's outage on Friday, here is the post that was supposed to go up then. Sorry for the delay. - WO

After the recent spat of more than a dozen Apple Store robberies from Connecticut to Virginia, and most recently Westlake, Ohio, the FBI has joined local authorities in investigating a rash of burglaries and robberies at Apple Stores in the eastern United States, according to a recent report from USA Today.


Recent Apple Store incidents include successful burglaries such as four separate break-ins in December that saw thieves make off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of MacBooks, iPods, iPhones and iPads at stores located in Greenwich, Connecticut, Woodcliff, N.J., Pittsburgh and Naperville, Illinois. The same Woodcliff, N.J Apple Store that was hit last December was targeted in 2008, when burglars broke in through a vacant furniture store next door, but that incident found police catching three of the four suspected burglars.

Still shot from last week's NJ Apple Store robbery.

Other attempts have not gone so smoothly. In early April, one suspect was killed in a shootout with a security guard and two more were arrested during a break-in attempt at an Apple Store in Chula Vista, California, according to the Mac Observer. Facing off to the guard one of the robbers pulled a handgun and the guard responded. The resulting shootout resulted in one of the thieves killed, and the other man shot in the ass. Astoundingly, the woman wasn’t hit, presumably because she used the two men as human shields like the good chicken shit she is.

The Chula Vista shootout has been the only Apple Store robbery to involve a fatality, although a 2009 robbery attempt in Arlington, Virginia did result in an Apple Store employee getting shot.

Authorities attributed the rash of Apple Store robberies to factors ranging from the easy resale factor of Apple products on sites like eBay and Craigslist, to the outlets' trademark glass store fronts, which thieves can smash through. So if you see a MacBook, iPod, iPhone or iPad for ridiculously cheap on eBay, don’t buy it. Don’t encourage these guys.