Take heed, police say, when trying to cash in on the latest Apple computer equipment craze. There are con artists out to scam people looking for deals on iPhones and iPads.
A Clayton County man and a Dunwoody woman both learned the hard way in separate incidents, one that could’ve cost a victim’s life.
Jose Garcia told police he was approached at his job at Southlake Mall on June 16 with a proposition: two new Apple iPhones for just $200 each. The iPhone 4, which was being pitched, typically retails for $550 to $850 a piece without a wireless plan.
Myron Maurice Rouse, 45, and Martin Christopher Brown, 47, assured Garcia they were selling authentic, brand new phones, according to police reports.
Garcia went to the mall’s ATM and withdrew $400, which he said he paid to Brown.
Rouse allegedly handed Garcia the "phones" and left.
Garcia quickly discovered he had been hoodwinked by the dastardly duo and chased them out to their car in the mall parking lot.
There, police say, Garcia tried to stop the car and leapt onto the hood when they continued to flee.
After driving around the parking lot at speeds of up to 25 mph with Garcia clinging to the hood, Rouse, who was driving, suddenly stopped, police say.
Garcia was thrown to the ground and suffered minor injuries.
Morrow police officers patrolling the area were in the parking lot and saw the chase.
Brown and Rouse were stopped and detained as police investigated.
Garcia told the officers what happened, and police say the two suspects offered to simply refund Garcia’s money.
When investigators looked inside their car, they found what appeared to be more than $10,000 in Apple merchandise, including numerous iPhones, several iPads in new packaging, and three new Apple Mac Books in unopened boxes.
Further investigation, however, revealed pieces of ceramic tile bubble-wrapped inside the boxes.
Police also found bootleg DVDs, numerous T-Mobile cellular SIM cards and jewelry tagged with 14K gold and carat weights.
Rouse, of Ellenwood, told investigators he bought the bogus phones and computers for $50 from New York and resold them for a profit.
Both Brown and Rouse were indicted Wednesday by the Clayton County district attorney on charges of forged or counterfeited trademarks, theft by deception and reckless conduct.
Brown, who is from Lithonia, has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 1981 that includes battery, forgery, simple assault, simple battery, shoplifting and public drunkenness, according to records from the DeKalb and Clayton county jails.
Both men are currently being held in the Clayton County jail.
Just last week, a Dunwoody woman was taken by a similar scam at a gas station.
Around 1 p.m., on Oct. 24, the woman encountered a man at the Exxon gas station at Ashford Dunwoody and Perimeter Center East, and he said he was from Alabama and needed money to get home.
Police reports say the man offered her an iPad for $200.
Although initially apprehensive, the woman relented, police said. And the man handed her what seemed to be the iPad and accessories inside a box.
Still uncertain of the transaction, the woman wrote down the man’s license plate number as he drove away.
Her suspicions proved correct when she opened to box to find a piece of glass, cut to the size of an iPad, and a picture of the machine draped in bubble wrap.
Police are looking for a black man with medium build and a low haircut driving a black Toyota Camry with Alabama plates.
About the Author
