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This is the crazy moment a bold thief casually rips a whole display of iPhones off the shelves of an Oakland Apple store amid California Governor Gavin Newsom ‘s newest efforts to crack down on crime in the area. Shoppers at the Apple Store on Bay Street in Oakland, California , stood idly by and watched as a masked male pulled 49 iPhones off their security chords and shoved them in his pants.
While one individual filmed the incident, nobody tried to intervene or prevent the thug from his wild shoplifting rampage. After cramming his pants full of the display phones, the thief casually strolled out of the store into the street and right past a cop cap to hop in his getaway vehicle. According to online sources, Apple employees are instructed to not interfere in shoplifting attempts in order to avoid further violence.
Some Apple stores have designated security guards who will try to stop thieves, but others do not. Apple usually stores its stock in a separate private area, restricted to employees only, which is likely why the thief targeted the demo phones that were sitting on display. The products on display are usually mostly disabled, meaning that they don’t have the full capability of the normal technology on sale.
These items can still be valuable because of their parts and materials – which can be sold. This isn’t the first time an Apple store in the Oakland area has been targeted by thieves recently. A thief snatched 29 iPhones from the Berkeley Apple store on Fourth St. on December 31 at around 11:20 am. The phones were worth a total of $26,000, police wrote in court papers.
On January 17, one person wearing a ski mask took more than 40 devices in a ‘snatch and grab’ robbery of the same store. Thieves on January 25 targeted the same store for at least the third time in a matter of weeks, taking 16 iPhones before leaving. One individual was arrested in the robbery, 21-year-old Dwayne Butler II, and is now being held on $80,000 bail. Berkeley property crime detectives were able to track Butler down and arrest him on suspicion of grand theft, burglary, receiving stolen property and conspiracy.
All of these robberies come amid Newsom’s most recent attempt to crack down on crime in Oakland and the East Bay. Newsom announced plans on Tuesday to deploy 120 additional California Highway Patrol officers to the area to ‘conduct a targeted law enforcement surge operation to crack down on crime.’ The governor’s office said that the deployment will include specialized units equipped with advanced investigation technology ‘to crack down on crime and improve public safety.’
CHP officers will specifically target vehicle theft, retail theft and violent crime. ‘The surge of crime and violence that we are seeing in our streets is completely unacceptable,’ said Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. ‘The City of Oakland is hard at work turning the tide – increasing law enforcement investigations, increasing police recruitment, and investing in community and violence intervention efforts.
‘As we work to improve public safety, I’m grateful for Governor Newsom for providing these critical law enforcement resources that are a game-changer in helping us hold more criminals accountable and make Oakland safer.’ The crime in Oakland has spiraled so far out of control that businesses are forced to close their doors to the community. In-N-Out announced that it will be pulling its Oakland location in March, citing the ‘degradation of Bay Area.’
Regular car break-ins, property damage, theft ,and armed robberies of customers and employees led to the decision to shut down, the company told FOX Business. A 54-year-old branch of Denny’s has closed its doors in Oakland amid threats to ‘the safety and wellbeing’ of staff and customers, as the Bay Area city struggles to contain soaring crime.
