Masked thief arrested after allegedly being filmed brazenly stealing 50 iPhones on display in California Apple store
A California man was arrested on Wednesday night in connection with a theft from an Apple Store in Berkeley, in which he is allegedly seen on video snatching display devices before walking past a police vehicle and walking to a getaway car.
Emeryville Police Department detectives arrested 22-year-old Tyler Mims of Berkeley for his involvement in the theft, and charged him with burglary, grand theft and other crimes.
On Monday, officers with the department were dispatched to the scene after a caller reported the crime and said the suspect fled with 50 iPhones, with a total value of $49,230.
A masked man, later alleged to be Mims, was wearing all black clothing and seen in the video going from table to table at about 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 5, 2024, ripping phones from their display and placing them into his pockets.
During the nearly 45-second video, the thief takes dozens of phones, which cost hundreds of dollars each. Witnesses stood by and watched, and the person recording the video followed closely behind the individual as he exited the store and brushed against a police cruiser before getting into a black Hyundai.
The video made the rounds on social media the next day.
Since Jan. 19, the department has responded to four grand thefts from the Apple Store in town.
After the first incident, detectives began working with nearby agencies with similar thefts, identifying the thefts as organized retail crimes.
The department announced Thursday that on Wednesday night, a joint collaboration between its detectives and the Berkeley Police Department and California Highway Patrol resulted in three arrests associated with a theft at the Apple Store in Berkeley that happened earlier that morning.
Mims was one of the individuals arrested, police said, and was the person depicted in the video from the Emeryville Apple Store.
Mims was booked into jail and charged with three counts each of conspiracy to commit a crime, burglary, grand theft and organized retail theft.
The video garnered more than 10 million views on TikTok and X, in total, as of Thursday morning.
According to the E’Ville Eye, the Apple Store in the video was closed for several months last year but reopened in January.
