ALDERWOOD — Employees walked into the Apple Store in Alderwood mall on Monday morning and discovered hundreds of iPhones — roughly 436 of them — had gone missing.
Around the same time, the manager at the neighboring espresso machine store found the front door’s lock broken and a hole cut into their bathroom wall.
Bandits had carried out the heist by cutting through the wall of Seattle Coffee Gear, according to Lynnwood police. Investigators said the suspects broke into the espresso store around 7 p.m. and cut a rectangular hole in the bathroom to access the Apple Store. A Seattle Coffee Gear employee who picked up the phone Thursday said nobody was working in the store at the time of the break-in.
Police said the stolen merchandise added up to $500,000 worth of iPhones, Apple Watches and other electronics.
Both stores were closed Monday morning as police investigated the scene. Authorities had not arrested any suspects as of Thursday.
Seattle Coffee Gear has been in business since 2005. Owner Mike Atkinson said this is the first break-in at one of his three brick-and-mortar locations. (They’re in Lynnwood; Kirkland; and Palo Alto, California.)
“It would be tough for anybody to haul a 70-pound espresso machine through a mall into a parking lot,” Atkinson said. “It never occurred to us once that somebody could break into our store to access the store next door. That was a revelation to say the least.”
The business owner said the Alderwood store has upgraded its locks and added more security cameras since the incident.
He added that police have video surveillance. Atkinson said he watched the video and saw two thieves dressed in black, wearing masks and gloves so they wouldn’t leave fingerprints.
“They’re not releasing (the video) because obviously it’s part of their investigation at this point,” he said. “They basically just said it looked well planned, coordinated — and that’s really all they’re saying.”
The Apple media line had not responded to The Daily Herald for comment as of Thursday.
Maya Tizon 425-334-3939; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.
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