Man uses wire cutters to steal $4,800 in iPhones from T-Mobile store

Surveillance footage captured a man using wire cutters to snip the security wires on iPhones at a T-Mobile store’s display counter.

Credit: Gwinnett County Police Department

Credit: Gwinnett County Police Department

Surveillance footage captured a man using wire cutters to snip the security wires on iPhones at a T-Mobile store’s display counter.

Gwinnett County police are trying to find a man they said stole more than $4,800 worth of iPhones from a Duluth retailer.

Police said surveillance footage caught the man using wire cutters to steal multiple phones from the T-Mobile store on two separate occasions.

The store’s manager said a man walked into the store at 911 Duluth Highway in unincorporated Duluth on Jan. 22, according to a police report obtained by AJC.com. The manager noticed the man was behaving unusually, and said he saw the man pull something out of his pocket while his back was turned, the report said.

The manager confronted the man and he quickly left the store. Once the man was gone, the manager said he noticed that two phones were missing from the display rack and the security wires had been cut.

Security footage showed the man taking wire cutters out of his pocket and using them to cut the security wires that tied the iPhones to the retail counters, police spokesman Cpl. Wilbert Rundles said.

That day, the man made off with one gold and one black iPhone XS valued at $2,000 total.

On March 10, a man matching the same description visited the store, Rundles said.

“He appears as if he is talking on a cellphone when he enters and lingers around some iPhones on display,” Rundles said. The man then uses wire cutters from his pocket to cut the wires on three iPhones and quickly leaves the store, Rundles said.

A police report said none of the store employees noticed what the man was doing until he was on his way out of the store.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Gwinnett police. Tips can be submitted anonymously to the Crime Stoppers tip line at 404-577-TIPS (8477), online at www.crimestoppersatlanta.org or by texting the tip to CRIMES (274637).

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