Sam Oliver
Federal agents have arrested a man they believe is connected to the theft of $1.9 million worth of iPad minis from a cargo building at New York's JFK airport.
Renel Rene Richardson has been arrested in connection with the heist, in which thousands of iPads were stolen last week using an official airport forklift, according to the New York Post. Richardson was nabbed by the FBI after he allegedly made suspicious inquiries to coworkers about the shipment, as well as where he might be able to access a forklift.
The building from which the iPads were stolen was the site of the infamous Lufthansa heist, in which $5 million in cash and $875,000 worth of jewelry were stolen. It was the largest cash robbery to ever occur on U.S. soil.
That incident was featured in the 1990 film "GoodFellas," starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, which led to the name of the film being used in connection with the iPad mini heist. But after agents apprehended a suspect, the Post suggested he could instead star in "Dumbfellas."
Richardson worked at the Cargo Air Services building, according to a criminal complaint filed in Brooklyn, and he had two helpers. He allegedly acted as a lookout, authorities said, while two other unidentified accomplices loaded two pallets of iPad minis onto a truck.
Richardson reportedly accompanied Port Authority detectives in a search for the truck used in the heist. However, it's unknown whether any of the stolen iPads have been recovered.
Reports originally claimed that the 3,600 iPad minis solon from JFK were valued at $1.5 million, but now the total value is said to be around $1.9 million. The starting price for the 16-gigabyte, Wi-Fi-only iPad mini is $329, while the most expensive model is a 64-gigabyte version with cellular data for $659.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
14 Comments
Throw the iBooks at him!
ForgetAbouIt!
Apple Nixes AppleCare Sales in Italy 7:42 PM EST, Nov. 13th, 2012 · Bryan Chaffin · News Apple has stopped selling AppleCare in its Apple Store locations in Italy, and will no longer distribute AppleCare to third party retailers. Reuters reported that Apple confirmed the decision, which comes in the wake of Italian regulators spending much of the year pointing out that AppleCare was providing a for-fee warranty that Italian law requires be included out of the box. Apple includes a one year limited warranty with its products, and offers customers AppleCare that can extend that warranty by one or two years, depending on the product. In Italy, however, companies are required to warranty their products for two years, and regulators said that Apple selling AppleCare for that second year violates Italian law. Apple was fined €900,000 (US$1,132,559 at the time) by Italy's Autoritá Garante della Concerrenza (AGDC) as part of this ongoing process in Italy. The company appealed that fine and lost, and stopped selling AppleCare in its brick and mortar stores on November 9th. In a related story, the Mafia denies any culpabiity in the JFK iPad Mini heist!
The odds of getting away with any big-dollar electronics heist are absurdly low, but stealing high profile, high value items from an overseas shipment—ensuring the full involvement of the FBI—was outrageously stupid.
What were these people thinking? These people will never be able to work again. They might as well kill themselves.