How a crew of New York thieves used an Apple Watch to steal $500,000

A group of New York-based robbers ingeniously used an Apple Watch to track a person
and loot $500,000 in cash off him. The seven-member crew targeted a group of drug-runners
and targeted a criminal’s car using the smart watch in January 2020, but the
details were only released in new court documents recently.  

The leader
of the crew, which is based in the Hudson Valley, bought an Apple Watch and linked
it to his AT&T account, the New York Post cited federal prosecutor papers
filed last week as saying.

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The crew
then placed the watch underneath the car of a drug runner they suspected had a
lot of cash on him. They then trailed his car from Orange
County to a hotel parking lot in Hartford, Connecticut.

“All of
this information is supported by detailed cellsite location data, including (from)
his Apple Watch and the phones of the defendant,” the prosecutor said.

After
finding his hotel, the crew smashed the window scored the room in search for
cash, but found nothing. Two other members kept watch for their target overnight,
but he did not appear anywhere nearby the hotel or his car.

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The next
day, the crew found their victim in the garage. They forced him into their car
and beat him up and stole his phone, wallet and keys to his hotel room. They
considered killing him, but ultimately let him go near New Britain,
Connecticut.

One of the
crew members later walked into the victim’s hotel room and found a bag stuffed
with half a million dollars in cash, prosecutors said. The crew then returned
to New York, where they divided the loot and also took pictures in front of the
stack of cash.

The crew
were arrested in July for a number of alleged robberies from 2019 to 2020,
including the $500,000 heist in Connecticut.