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3 arrested after multiple thefts at Apple store in Emeryville

By KTVU staff
Published  February 8, 2024 1:18pm PST
KTVU FOX 2

Dozens of iPhones stolen despite police car present, escapes

In a viral video, a suspect is seen snatching dozens of iPhones from their ports with a police car right outside Emeryville's Apple Store in broad daylight.

EMERYVILLE, Calif. - Police have arrested three people, including a 22-year-old Berkeley man seen in a viral video, on a variety of burglary charges after the Apple store in Emeryville was hit multiple times in the last three weeks.

But there was another theft today in which two thieves allegedly got away with 16 iPhones, six iPads and four MacBooks at around 12:15 p.m.

Emeryville police booked Tyler Mims on Wednesday on three counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, three counts of burglary, three counts of grand theft and three counts of organized retail theft.

Online jail records also show he was being held in connection with corporal injury to a spouse and child cruelty allegations.

Bail was set at $810,000. 

Two others were arrested as well, but Emeryville police did not identify them.

Thief steals iPhones from California Apple store

Video shows a person dressed in black grabbing multiple iPhones from an Apple store in Emeryville, Calif. before walking past a police car parked near the entrance. There was no officer in the patrol car.

Police singled out Mims because he was captured on a now-viral video snatching dozens of iPhones from their ports with a police car parked right outside Emeryville's Apple store in broad daylight on Tuesday.

He was seen dressed in all black with red shoes, ripping the $1,000 phones from their tethers and shoving them down their pants as onlookers steered clear of their path. 

The first Apple store theft in the series was reported on Jan. 19.

Then on Monday, a suspect took 50 iPhones worth about $50,000 from the Apple store about 10:30 a.m. 

On Tuesday, an onlooker took a video of a suspect stealing phones as an Emeryville police car sat in front of the store. 

In a statement, police said at the time, there were no officers in the area and the patrol car was unoccupied. Police did not explain, however, where the officer was at the time. 

Then on Wednesday, Emeryville police began working with Berkeley police and the CHP to arrest Mims and two others following a theft at an Apple store in Berkeley earlier that morning. 

Anyone with information regarding thefts associated with the Apple Store in Emeryville is asked to contact the Emeryville Police Department Investigations Unit at (510) 596-3700 or e-mail at investigations@emeryville.org.