Fashion Valley, UTC Apple stores robbed within 30 minutes

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) — Two Apple stores at two different San Diego malls were robbed of display items within 30 minutes of each other Friday, police said. 

Thieves took about $20,000 in merchandise from an Apple store at the University Town Centre mall in La Jolla about 10:00 a.m. Friday, according to San Diego police. About 30 minutes later, three thieves, one armed with a knife, stole a dozen iPhones and four computers from an Apple store in Mission Valley Friday authorities reported.

After grabbing the electronics, the trio fled to a nearby parking lot and left the area in a silver four-door Chevrolet sedan, Officer Tony Martinez said.

About 10:30 a.m., a trio of similar-looking men — believed to be the same ones who had committed the first crime — stole a dozen iPhones and four computers from an Apple store at Fashion Valley mall on Friars Road after one of them used a knife to cut anti-theft cables attached to the display items.

Since the thieves apparently threatened no one with the knife, the crime was being investigated as a grand theft, not an armed robbery, Martinez said.