One Apple iPhone 4S gets stolen twice in the same day

Strong arm theft of the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad has become so popular, especially in New York, that a new name has been coined for the act, "Apple picking". And if it weren't for "Apple picking," crime in the Big Apple would have been down for 2012. In fact, last year in New York there were 16,000 reported incidents of "Apple picking," which accounted for 16% of all crimes committed.  Recently in Brooklyn, the theft of an Apple iPhone 4S led to the kind of story that cops talk about for years with other cops and family.

Back on November 23rd, around 4pm, a 16 year old girl is walking through Prospect Park clutching her Apple iPhone 4S. Already warned by her parents not to get too distracted by the phone and to always keep aware of her surroundings, she had her ear buds on as hip hop was blasting loudly into her ears. Suddenly, a group of three boys were in her face demanding her iPhone. A tug of war ensued and one of the boys grabbed the phone. The victim was left empty handed with the memory of the thug's pink sneakers filling her head. She managed to flag down a cop who took her cruising the park for the thief, but it was to no avail.

Meanwhile, let's turn our attention to the thief, the boy who won the tug of war and stole the Apple iPhone 4S. His intent was to convert it to cash quickly, so he heads to Flatbush and Bedford Avenue where he encounters a possible buyer. But before the buyer lays out his hard earned cash for the device, he needs to take a closer look to make sure the phone is, in fact, working. So the potential buyer gets his hands on the phone and takes off. For the second time in one afternoon, this particular handset is stolen. But the story gets better.

The original thief, now out his stolen property, flags down one of New York's finest and acting like a victim, convinces the cop that he just had his Apple iPhone 4S lifted. Luckily, the second thief was either slow, stupid, or both and was quickly apprehended. Everyone got a ride to the 70th precinct, or as they say on New York based cop shows on television, the seven-oh.

Now let's return to the poor victim of the original crime. She has been driving around, looking for Mr. Pink Sneakers for about an hour with the cops when one of them suggests that she calls her phone. She gives one of the cops the number and the call is made, which leads to a ringing handset sitting on an officer's desk in the 70th precinct. Well, you can imagine the conversation between the two cops on each end of the call as they figured out what must have occured. The cop from the 70th precinct had an idea and stalled until the victim arrived to ID the pink sneakers on the original thief. Both criminals were arrested. Because of his age, Mr. Pink Sneakers could not be identified in the media. The guy who ripped him off was Jean Louis Colsun.

The 16 year old girl received her Apple iPhone 4S back and as of last Thursday, there have been no further incidents since the robbery. We're not sure Apple would use it, but how about this for a tag line on the next television spot. "The Apple iPhone, the smartphone in so much demand that the same one was stolen twice in one day." As New York Post columnist Cindy Adams would say, "Only in New York".
 
source: NewYorkTimes