Victims leaving computers unattended

A Los Angeles-area crime ring may be targeting Apple Store shoppers, says the Orange County sheriff's office. The county's district attorney's office has charged three people with burglary and grand theft, in association with 28 cases in which thieves broke into cars and stole computers from people who had been to Apple Stores. The Manhattan Beach Police say that an investigation is still underway into 15 cases tied to the Village Mall Apple Store, on Sepulveda Boulevard.

Regional police have only just began to examine whether the crime ring definitely exists. The ring, if it is real, may have stolen over 100 computers in Orange, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Because none of the computers in the Orange County cases have been recovered, it is thought that they are being fenced, or possibly smuggled out of the US.

The modus operandi of the thieves is believed to involve tailing people leaving Apple Stores, and then waiting for them to leave their cars unattended. If a computer is still sitting in a car, the thieves jump into action. "It's a highly preventable crime if people don't leave computers in their cars," notes Manhattan Beach sergeant Brian Brown.

by MacNN Staff