Apple Crime Log: An iPhone Travels to Tehran, Florida’s AirTag Arrest, and More
Toggle Dark Mode
It’s time for another look at the Apple Crime Log, where we cover a variety of the latest and greatest(?) Apple-related crimes. This time around, a stolen iPhone ends up in a nearby ecoATM, an Israeli teen’s iPhone makes an unscheduled trip to Iran, and much more.
Man Arrested for Tracking His Ex With an AirTag
Gulf Coast News Now reports a Florida man was arrested in mid-February by Fort Myers police following the discovery of an AirTag on his ex-wife’s vehicle. The ex-husband, Nicholas Brezina, was charged with installing a tracking device without consent.
Police have not said how long Brezina was tracking his ex with the AirTag.
Last fall, Florida enacted a new anti-Airtag stalking law that carries a punishment of up to 15 years in prison for anyone convicted of using trackers like an AirTag to commit certain serious crimes such as murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, and other offenses. The Legislature passed the law unanimously, and Governor Ron DeSantis signed it into law in May 2025.
That law, which classifies using an AirTag for a “dangerous crime” as a second-degree felony, followed a a separate action last year in which lawmakers also reclassified all other forms of AirTag-enabled stalking from a misdemeanor to a third-degree felony that carries a sentence of up to five years in the hoosegow.
Stolen iPhone Ends Up in Nearby ecoATM Kiosk
A Grand Junction, Colorado woman’s stolen iPhone was so close to her that she could almost touch it. The only thing in her way? The ecoATM machine containing it, where a man had sold it shortly before.
9 News reports the woman, Erin Liu, believed she left her iPhone at a restaurant where her husband saw it using Find My. However, before the couple could return to retrieve it, the device found its way to an ecoATM at a nearby Walmart.
A Grand Junction police officer met up with the family and accompanied them to the Walmart, where they realized the device was inside the store’s ecoATM machine. While Liu almost certainly breathed a sigh of relief, imagine her consternation when she discovered she would not be able to get her precious back right away, as the verification process for its return would take “about a month.”
The officers were able to confront the man who sold the iPhone to the machine, who was amazingly still in the Walmart (Pro Tip: Always leave the scene of the crime, kids! Never hang around to spend your ill-gotten gains at the same location where the crime occurred).
To add insult to injury, the accused had sold Liu’s $1,200 iPhone for a paltry $20, and claimed he had found the handset on the street. Although police did not charge him with a crime, the company that runs the ecoATM machines have banned him from selling “found” iPhones — or anything else — on the platform.
Israeli Teen’s Missing iPhone Travels to Iran
While most lost and stolen iPhones eventually make the trek to far east markets like China or Vietnam, one iPhone belonging to an Israeli teen showed up in Iran instead.
Ynet News reports that 16-year-old Roy Solomon’s iPhone went missing while he was on a layover at Dubai International Airport in July. Tracking data later showed that the iPhone eventually made an appearance in beautiful downtown Tehran, where Israel and Iran had fought a war the previous month.
Solomon didn’t realize he was no longer in possession of his iPhone until he arrived back in Israel. By tracking the handset in the Find My app, he saw the device was still in Dubai.
In October, a friend of his family volunteered to make the trip to the airport’s lost and found to retrieve it. However, despite previous reassurances to the contrary, the staff refused to hand over the iPhone or even allow the friend to see the device.
Weeks later, a subsequent check on the device’s location showed that it had made the trip to Tehran.
“My son didn’t even get a chance to upload the photos from his Thailand vacation to the cloud,” the teen’s mother, Sharon, told the newspaper. “We hope that whoever is holding it in Iran will at least upload the photos so the memories won’t be erased.”
Watchdog Group Accuses Ex-Senator of Buying Nearly $8,000 of Apple Products With Campaign Funds
Last but not least, we look at a case that begs the question, “is it ever really a crime to buy Apple products, no matter where the money came from?”
A federal filing by a campaign watchdog group accuses a former US Senator’s campaign committee of improperly spending $700,000 in campaign cash on personal expenses after she left office in January of 2025.
A filing with the Federal Elections Commission by Campaign Legal Center, includes reports of improper spending by former Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, including $7,975 on Apple products. These expenses included “subscriptions,” “computer supplies,” “telephone equipment,” “technical support,” and “AppleCare support.”
While Sinema’s campaign still had $4.2 million in cash when she left office, and Arizona gives former officeholders a “six-month wind-down period for legitimate expenses needed to close down a campaign” during which such spending is allowed, the brief claims Sinema’s spending came after that cutoff.
The complaint lists other allegedly improper expenditures, including airfare, expensive hotels, meals, tickets to events, and continuing salary payments for former staffers.
