Thieves raid Monterey Apple store, leave with thousands worth of merchandise

The big release of the new iPhone 10 turned into a heart-stopping burglary in broad daylight at the Monterey Apple Store.

Three men wearing dark hoodies came through the front doors of the Del Monte Center Apple Store, late Friday morning.

It was only a few minutes before they ran out with over $1,000 worth of merchandise, leaving bystanders and staff stunned.

A customer in the shop was able to snap a quick video as the men fled. He captured three men darting for the door, hands full of new Apple products.

The customer who caught it all on tape said the men snatched several iPhones and one laptop off the display tables.

Also shown is a man who tried to trip one thief, and staff members who tried to hold shoppers back.

The Monterey Police Department said this is not uncommon on the Central Coast, and that they’ve seen similar cases before.

An almost identical crime took place at a west Sacramento Sprint store, earlier this month.

A Sacramento Batteries Plus manager, Vitaly Maksimovich, said pieces of an iPhone are nearly as valuable as the whole thing.

“If you were to just part out a phone you could potentially get up to 80% of the value of the phone back,” said Maksimovich.

He said resale of these items can earn thieves hundreds of dollars. “They have the serial numbers on file so they’re probably going to blacklist the phone, which means you can no longer activate them, but the internal parts of the phone are still valuable. Like the screens on the iphone x are probably anywhere from $250 to $350 and the logic port itself is $100,” said Maksimovich.

An hour after the robbery, displays were still left barren. This didn’t seem to stop the dozens of people who got in line to get their hands on the new iPhone.

The Monterey Police Department said that the three men have yet to be identified.