Signal from stolen AirPods reveals $100,000 worth of missing goods, Florida cops say

A set of stolen AirPods helped catch a felony burglary suspect when they stubbornly kept transmitting their location from the culprit’s storage shed, according to Florida investigators.

The burglary happened Sunday, Dec. 8, at the Nissan of Fort Myers auto dealership, about a 125-mile drive south from Tampa.

“Several toolboxes and tools with a total worth of $100,000 were stolen,” the Lee County Sheriff’s Office reported in a Dec. 11 news release.

“During the course of their investigation, one of the victims contacted detectives because their Apple AirPods that were left in one of the stolen toolboxes was pinging to CubeSmart Storage.”

The storage facility is in Cape Coral, about a 10-mile drive northwest from the dealership, maps show.

Detectives “tracked the audible ping to a storage unit” and learned it had been rented by a 39-year-old man who worked at an Audi dealership in Fort Myers, the sheriff’s office said.

“The victims informed detectives that (the suspect) was recently let go from … Nissan, and blamed the other victims for his termination,” the sheriff’s office said.

CubeSmart Storage surveillance video showed the suspect was seen “unloading the suspected toolboxes” from a moving truck on Dec. 8 and pushing them into a shed, deputies said.

The suspect, who lives in Cape Coral, was arrested on Dec. 10 and charged with larceny grand theft and burglary of an unoccupied structure, jail records show.

This story was originally published December 12, 2024 at 9:43 AM with the headline "Signal from stolen AirPods reveals $100,000 worth of missing goods, Florida cops say."