Apple Crime Log: A $31K iPhone Heist, London Text Threats, and the ‘Prison iPad’ Myth
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In this edition of the iDrop News Apple Crime Log, a man has been charged with stealing $31,000 worth of iPhones from a logistics facility, iPhone theft victims receive threatening phone calls, and no, the California prison system is not handing out free iPads to prisoners.
Cops Charge Chi-Town Man in $31,000 iPhone Theft
A 34-year-old Chicago man has been charged with stealing $31,000 worth of iPhones, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
Fox 32 Chicago reports that the theft occurred at a logistics facility in Des Plaines, Illinois, but was only discovered after a shipment arriving at the company’s Ohio facility came up 40 iPhones short.
Investigators discovered Terrance Foster, a temporary employee at the Des Plaines location, caught on security footage entering a trailer and leaving with what police said were the approximately 40 stolen iPhones concealed in a sweater, which he carried to his car. Investigators said the footage showed no one else entering the trailer.
Foster has been charged with a felony count of theft. He was arrested on May 15.
London iPhone Theft Victims Receive Threatening Calls
In October, iDrop News reported that London has seen a massive wave of snatch-and-grab iPhone thefts in recent years, with 152,000 such thefts reported over the last two years. Unfortunately, the violation doesn’t end there for some victims.
The New York Times reports that many of the victims of these iPhone thefts have received threatening phone calls and text messages from the bad actors.
“I know who you are and where you live,” read one threatening message received by a Chicago resident who had been the victim of an iPhone theft while in London. The message, which the NYT noted was full of obscenities and typos, menacingly added, “I’ve killed or far less than a phone before.”
The threats are likely tied to the thieves’ desire to have the victims unlink their IDs from the stolen devices. Unlocked iPhones that are no longer linked to the actual owner are worth much more on the black market.
The California Penal System Is NOT Giving Inmates Free iPads
A May report by City Journal claimed that the California Prison System was handing out tablet devices to state prisoners, including some on death row. The report alleges that the gratis tablets are being used by prisoners to watch porn and also have explicit sexual conversations, in some cases even using their tablets to groom minors.
While the publication noted that the tablets that are provided by the $189 million contract are “generic, flat-screen devices in a plastic shell,” other media outlets, including Fox LA, have mistakenly referred to the tablets in question as “iPads.”
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), has also called the tablets “iPads” when announcing plans for Congress to investigate the program.
The Gavin Newsom administration approved the program to give inmates tablets as a step toward “digital equity” for “justice impacted” individuals, who would use the tablets to stay in touch with their families and consume educational content.
While the prisons reportedly have measures in place to block access to pornography and other controversial uses, at least one prisoner told City Journal that the restrictions are easy to evade.
