Undercover police officers sold iPhones and iPads to dozens of people who thought they were stolen goods in a sting operation that yielded 141 arrests, the NYPD said Friday.
Police identified certain businesses throughout the city, including some suspected of receiving stolen property in the past, and sent undercover officers there with iPhone 4s and iPad 2s that they said were stolen.
They offered them at low prices, between $50 and $200 each, the NYPD said.
“This was a two-prong approach to apprehend both thieves and receivers of stolen property,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. “Suspects at both ends of the equation are learning the hard way that ‘victims’ and ‘sellers’ may in fact be undercover police officers.”
The sting sales began Tuesday and continued Friday, the department said.
The 141 people arrested were all charged with criminal possession of stolen property.
(Source: NBC New York)
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One Response
You cant be charged with criminal possession of stolen property if the property was not stolen i doubt the nypd stole the ipads. 2) this is not proper policing this might make the store less likely to buy stolen ipads but it will not discourage the thieves they will just go to another state where there is no crack down to sell them, the right way to do it would be to actually catch the thieves is that asking a little to much from the bloomberg administration? hes more interested in getting guns off our streets by placing more laws on the people who dont use them in crimes rather than going after corrupt judges who who let murderers loose without bail. it seems to me the city has bigger problems than Ipads and thats where they should be putting their resources rather than use a ipad crack down as a facade