Thief Uses Racial Guilt Trips To Steal iPhones

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles police detectives are asking for help identifying a man, who used race-based guilt trips to gain access to and steal iPhones from a store in the Winnetka before doing the same thing again in Ventura County.

According to police, the man walked into a Boost Mobile store in the 19700 block of Vanowen Street, near Corbin Avenue shortly after noon Tuesday. He asked a clerk to show him new iPhones, and when the clerk refused to bring out the new phones and instead directed him to the tethered display phones, the suspect, who is black, accused the employee of being racist, police said.

"Fearing being labeled a racist, the salesperson presented the new iPhones to the suspect," according to and LAPD statement. "Once the phones were in his reach, the suspect grabbed the phones and fled the business."

Less than three hours later, the suspect did it again in Oxnard, making off with Apple and Samsung Galaxy S8 phones, according to the LAPD.

A security camera captured images of the suspect, who is believed to be 22-28 years old. He is further described as 5 feet 11 inches tall, 150-170 pounds with short black hair.

Anyone with information about the thefts was urged to call (818) 756- 5848 to speak with Detective Abbinanti.

After-hours and weekend calls should be directed to (877) LAPD-24-7. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers by calling (800) 222- TIPS.

City News Service contributed to this report.