While the FBI initially failed to catch the thieves who stole $1.5 million worth of iPad Mini units from JFK, a worker from the airport has been found guilty of the theft.
An employee at New York's JFK airport has been arrested due to his part in managing the theft of the iPad Minis. Renel Rene Richardson asked co-workers for details regarding the shipment of the new tablet, as well as inquiring about where he could get access to a forklift.
Law-enforcement officials allege that he made the suspicious inquiries and acted as a lookout while two fellow thieves escaped with pallets of iPad Minis.
The theft took place last Monday night at the Cargo Air Services Building at JFK, which saw the thieves utilizing an airport forklift to load more than 3,500 iPad Mini units onto a truck. Three pallets were left behind as they were quick to make an exit when an airport employee returned from a break.
Port Authority detectives managed to track down the theft to Richardson following a round of interviews with JFK staff. After his arrest, he accompanied the detectives as they looked around Long Island for the truck containing the missing Minis. It's currently unclear whether the units have been recovered, with the FBI refusing to comment.
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Zak Islam is a freelance writer focusing on security, networking, and general computing. His work also appears at Digital Trends and Tom's Guide.
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dark_knight33 "Found guilty" is very different from "Arrested and charged with". Especially considering there hasn't been time to have a trial on it. Regardless of the fact that he supposedly helped the FBI look for the truck (really?), he hasn't plead out, or been found guilty of anything other than purportedly wasting the FBI's time.Reply -
lashabane dark_knight33"Found guilty" is very different from "Arrested and charged with". Especially considering there hasn't been time to have a trial on it. Regardless of the fact that he supposedly helped the FBI look for the truck (really?), he hasn't plead out, or been found guilty of anything other than purportedly wasting the FBI's time.Was going to say the same. Nice reporting there Toms.Reply
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rutiger If you look at his theft, you can see how he moved them from back and to the left. Back and to the left.Reply -
Maxx_Power I think this is the same airport (can't remember for sure) that they busted a criminal theft ring years ago, where it involved a circle of workers, security crew and other employees taking advantage of the post-911 hysteria to lift items out of the luggages and re-selling them world wide.Reply -
Stevemeister Hopefully Apple have a record of all the unit ID's so the moment anyone tries to use them on the internet they will know exactly who is using them and where. I think in terms of "being found guilty" its just a matter of time. They know he did it and the FBI have him - his accomplices must be shitting bricks by now!Reply