Nashville man arrested for stalking girlfriend with Apple Watch

Laurence Welch, a resident of Nashville, Tennessee, was arrested for tracking his girlfriend’s whereabouts by attaching an Apple Watch to the wheel of her car. 

The 29-year-old tracked her location with the help of a mobile application. According to his girlfriend, the couple would often track each others’ activities by using Life360, a location app. After being threatened and abused by her partner, the anonymous woman disabled the application during a visit to Nashville’s Family Safety Center. 

After being unable to access her location, Welch enabled Life360 on his Apple watch and reached the center, attaching the device to the wheel of the vehicle. 

Instead of walking into the building, the man crouched near the wheel, according to police officials. 

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He was then apprehended after security officials called the police. 

Last year, Welch was under investigation over domestic assault charges and was taken into arrest in December 2021. 

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Life360 is a safety application and a location service meant to track friends and family. It is mostly used by parents and caregivers to ensure the safety of their children.  

Although technological advancements continue to make life easier, their misuse often endangers the safety of users. 

Over the last few years, reports of stalkers tracking victims through electronic devices and applications have been on the rise.

Earlier this year, a similar case of Wilfred Gonzalez, a man from Waterbury, using an AirTag to track his former girlfriend went viral on the internet.  

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“This AirTag situation is really, really threatening in the sense that they’re small and not noticeable,” said Mary-Jane Foster, President and CEO of Hartford-based Interval House.

In the past, Canada has witnessed a spike in automobile theft, thanks to Apple AirTags helping robbers track vehicles and plan heists. Due to the rise of safety concerns, Apple bolstered its regulations and set up protective measures to curb such malicious activities.