Crime blotter: A year later, Alderwood Apple Store theft remains unsolved

In the latest Apple Crime Blotter, a significant Apple Watch theft happened at Walmart, Woz wins a round in court, and Malaysian ethics after an iPhone incident.

The latest in an occasional AppleInsider series, looking at the world of Apple-related crime.

Nearly a year later, the Alderwood Mall Apple Store break-in remains unsolved

It was probably the most high-profile Apple Store theft of 2023. On April 2, burglars cut through the wall of an adjacent espresso machine store and stole $500,000 worth of merchandise — including more than 400 iPhones — from the Alderwood Mall Apple Store in Washington State.

With the first anniversary of the theft days away, the theft is still unsolved, and no arrests have been made.

A spokeswoman for the Lynnwood Police Department told AppleInsider that last they heard about the case, it was "being worked on at the federal level."

32 Apple Watches stolen from Walmart

The recent theft of $1.3 million in Apple products by a former UPS worker in Winnipeg may be the largest Apple heist in Canadian history.

Late March also brought another, more minor theft north of the border. Thieves stole 32 Apple Watches from a Walmart in Fergus, Ontario.

According to Guelph Today, the theft occurred on the afternoon of March 15, when three men gathered around a storage cabinet and removed several items. The theft was caught on surveillance video:

Steve Wozniak wins a round in fraud suit against YouTube

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak won a round in a lawsuit he filed against YouTube, in which Wozniak's likeness was misleadingly used to promote a Bitcoin scam.

The San Jose Mercury News reports an appeals court has overturned an earlier ruling that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shielded YouTube from the suit.

Wozniak filed the suit in 2020, along with 17 other plaintiffs. The videos featured footage of Wozniak speaking at conferences, overlaid with "images and text added to the clips [which] promised free Bitcoin."

Apple is not a party to the suit.

iPad helped catch "suitcase snatcher gang" in U.K.

An all-female trio that stole suitcases from trains in the U.K. was caught after an iPad was left in one of the stolen bags.

According to The Daily Mail, the ring stole suitcases on trains throughout the country and stole about $17,600 worth of items starting in 2022.

The iPad signal traced the items to a youth hostel, leading to their arrest. One of the women received 27 months, while the others got suspended sentences.

"Porch Pirate" who stole iPhone sought in Florida

The Polk County Sheriff's Office in Florida is looking for a man who stole a package containing an iPhone from the porch of a home in Lakeland.

The alleged thief was wearing "a dark blue North Carolina hoodie, gray joggers and gray shoes," and was driving a gray Volkswagen, WTSP reported.

The sheriff's office posted a video of the theft to YouTube:

Gym employee accused of AirDropping himself woman's nude photos

A Florida woman told a TV station that when she went to cancel her membership at a Jacksonville-area gym in 2021, a gym employee used the woman's iPhone to AirDrop himself the woman's intimate photos.

According to News4Jax, the man in question has not been arrested. A police officer who questioned the man was a former employee of Apple, and warned the employee that such transfers do not happen by accident.

iPhone theft by man in Malaysia starts "nationwide conversation"

In Malaysia, a man wearing a religious cap was caught on camera stealing a pair of iPhones from a store in a mall.

The Rakyat Post reports the surfacing of the footage has set off "a nationwide conversation on ethics, technology lust, and the unseen cost of our digital desires."

"As we navigate through the complexities of modern living, where technology increasingly defines our worth and identity, incidents like these serve as poignant reminders of the values we choose to uphold," the report said.