Brick-toting thieves rob NJ Apple Store, grab 31 MacBook Pros, 14 iPhones, 9 iPods (with video)

“Police are searching for the five bandits who hit the Apple Store in Marlton, New Jersey,” WPVI-TV (Philadelphia) reports.

“It happened shortly after 2:00 a.m. at the Promenade Shopping Center on Route 73,” WPVI reports. “The thieves broke into the store through the plate glass window, and then scooped up merchandise like a holiday shopping spree.”

Security video showed the fast-paced robbery:

Direct link to video here.

“It’s after closing and the security guard is seen making his rounds in the store,” WPVI reports. “But, at 2:05 a.m., thieves hit the store’s plate glass door with a blunt object. Like professionals, they bring it shattering down with one strike.”

“Then, with precision timing, the five men enter the store and clean house like there’s no tomorrow. Each one moved in a different direction, lifting Macbook Pros which can run upwards of $3,000,” WPVI reports. “In all, they took 23 Macbook Pros, 14 iPhones and nine iPod touches. It all happened in 31 seconds flat.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “TheConfuzed1” for the heads up.]

45 Comments

  1. Clearly the thieves spent years as humble students of the finest Shaolin Masters to acquire the knowledge to use a BRICK effectively against GLASS. I mean, can you imagine just any old guy being able to toss a blunt, heavy object against a plate glass window and have it break?

  2. @ twodales

    I am also surprised that New Jersey building codes don’t require safety glass for the doors and windows that nearly touch the ground. I guarantee that would have slowed these losers down.

    From watching the video, it looks like it was safety glass in the door. Safety glass is intended to break into small pieces, rather than in long, jagged pieces, like normal window glass. It’s less likely to injure someone, hence the ‘safety” name. It has nothing to do with with its break resistance. (I’m a volunteer firefighter, this is something they teach us.)

    Since this is the second time that store was robbed, Apple may consider other options, like the film mentioned above, or a more breakage glass.

  3. Wow, what a description….savvy enough to wear masks. Look two of the guys are wearing black pants, but wait, were they all wearing shoes?

    The play by play by the reporter is fantastic, this guy needs to do something like golf.

  4. The guy wearing the sweats and red jacket seemed to be a Phillies fan as those are Phillies colors. Philadelphia is within 20 miles of that section of NJ. What I’m implying is that this would indicate the thieves are local to the area. They have obviously frequented the store many times to case the joint and set this up. In some ways it’s not surprising as when you’re earning over twice the dollars per square footage as the most exclusive high end jewelery store you are probably a target of some not too bright thieves. This brings back memories of the rough riding 90’s in Silicon valley when Semis were hijacked for their load of the latest microprocessors from Intel and TI. Those guys are toast.

  5. Followups to a number of posts and some more info about the store….

    Bobchr: virtually all robberies, especially these kind, are local. Criminals and low-lifes are (thankfully) generally quite stupid, and they tend to s___ in their own backyards or close by. I’d offer even money odds that the perps are from Camden, which ranks as one of the country’s most dangerous cities, and is a stone’s throw away (pun intended). Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden,_New_Jersey#Crime Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode;=&q=500+Route+73+S+#+E1+08053&sll=40.023408,-74.734497&sspn=1.076876,1.562805&ie=UTF8&ll=39.933433,-75.026321&spn=0.29432,0.560989&z=11

    The Promenade is full of high-end foo-foo stores, BTW: http://www.thepromenadenj.com/storedirectory.asp

    BV Kelly: The TV station is from Philly. NJ doesn’t have any TV stations except PBS.

    I should have mentioned that I was in that very store this past weekend getting Snow Leopard and I noticed that one of the glass doors was broken and replaced with black-painted plywood. In fact, you can see that is still the case if you look at the video. The left-hand door (as you face the store) is that black object. Which makes me wonder if these same hooligans made a test run on the breakability of the doors recently.

    The items in the store have alarmed cables, which are not the same as security cables. They are not meant to stand up to a snatch attempt, but will sound an alarm if removed. Like you see in virtually all electronics stores.

    Yes, NJ

  6. @qka

    Since I have had a door glass break in at my own store, my glass guy put in a piece that had a plastic membrane through the center. When it happened again, we have video showing the burglar tossing a huge rock against the door and while the glass breaks it hung together and they did not get in. I guess that was my definition of safety glass.

  7. I work on Macs, but every time I get one in from a dubious customer asking if I can wipe out the password and do a clean instal, I get suspicious. Why don’t they take it to the Apple Store to get this done? I always ether give the an astronomical price to discourage them from using me to do this, or I simply tell them I don’t know how. The funny part is that the two times this has happened, they never had the installer disk with them.

    Never help anybody use a hot Mac, because at the end, you are fomenting the market of solen goods, and yours might be next to be taken.

  8. Disgruntled  again …

    Naw, don’t matter none – Philly or Joisey

    Youse Guys all da same … ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

    Now, do find it amazing are no – zip nada – TV Stations in NJ

    Wish I had a quickie wise-azz remark, but that fact leaves me ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”blank stare” style=”border:0;” />

    AND … hope you get your “gruntled” back … ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cool smile” style=”border:0;” />

    BC

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