Holiday Cautionary Tale: 16-Year Charged With Stealing iPhones, iWatches During Internet Sales Exchange
The Aurora Police Department recently charged a 16-year-old Aurora girl with five counts of theft in connection with several incidents in which she allegedly stole either iWatches or IPhones from people advertising them for sale on social media.
The first theft occurred around 3 p.m. Sept. 13 in the 400 block of Avon St., where the girl stole a $350 iWatch from a 22-year-old Chicago man.
While looking the watch over, the 16-year-old told the man and two friends he was with that she was going to get a soft drink from inside of a home she claimed was her residence. When she didn’t return after several minutes, the three others went to look for her and found a chair propped up against a fence and the suspect nowhere to be seen.
She apparently used the chair to jump the fence and run from the area.
Around 5:40 p.m. Oct. 7, the girl stole a $320 iWatch from a 21-year-old Gurnee woman in the 200 block of S. Lincoln Avenue. While examining the watch, the suspect ran from the scene after the victim went to wake up her boyfriend, who was sleeping in the victim’s vehicle nearby.
Around 3:45 p.m. the next day, the girl stole a $400 iWatch from a 54-year-old Chicago man in the 300 block of Avon Street, again by running from the scene after the victim gave her the watch to look at.
Around 11:10 a.m. Oct. 28, the 16-year-old took a $1,000 IPhone from a 47-year-old Naperville woman after the suspect said she had to show the device to her grandmother who supposedly lived in an apartment in the 1200 block of Monomoy Street. When she didn’t return after several minutes, the victim knocked on the apartment door, but no one answered.
Finally, around 2 p.m. Nov. 2, the girl stole another $1,000 IPhone, this time from a 38-year-old Oswego man after meeting him in the area of Gladstone and Victory Court. Once again, she ran from the scene after the man handed her the IPhone to look at.
Aurora Police Department Media Relations Manager Dan Ferrelli said there’s a holiday-season lesson to be learned from these incidents.
“The five cases serve as important reminders of the parking spaces we have reserved in our east lot for citizens to conduct internet-based transactions,” he said. “Remember, if you set up a transaction on the internet or social media, and the other party balks at the idea of meeting at the police department to conduct the business, they may have nefarious intentions.”
SOURCE: Aurora Police Department Facebook page
