Man arrested for “Craigslist” iPad robberies pleaded not guilty

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A 34-year-old man accused of stealing three iPads from people trying to sell them on Craigslist pleaded not guilty today to three counts of robbery.

Keith Randall Smith, of Mission Valley, was ordered held on $150,000 bail by Superior Court Judge David Szumowski.

The first of the robberies occurred about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, when Smith allegedly pulled a gun on an iPad owner at the victim's Talmadge apartment, stole the tablet-style computer and fled, according to San Diego police.

The other two holdups played out in similar fashion the next night, police said. The first occurred about 8:30 p.m. in the backyard of a Mount Hope woman's home, and the second roughly 90 minutes later, near another victim's Corridor-area residence.

Investigators matched the cell phone number Smith used to arrange meetings with the alleged victims to contact information used by a woman advertising her services as a prostitute on Craigslist, Deputy District Attorney Melissa Vasel said. They later found that phone, two of the iPads and a gun at Smith's residence, the prosecutor said.

“People should be very careful when they're selling things on Craigslist,” Vasel said. “Do it in public, have people with you and don't bring someone to your home.”

Each charge includes an allegation that Smith used a gun so, if convicted, he faces 23 years and eight months in state prison.

The judge scheduled a readiness conference for Aug. 16.