Man posing as Target employee accused of stealing $50,000 in iPhones

Police in Sandy Springs and Atlanta are searching for a man who detectives say stole $50,000 in iPhone 6S devices after posing as a Target employee.

Detective Sal Ortega told reporters that the man dressed in a black polo shirt and khaki pants and told customer service that he worked for Target Mobile.

”They identify themselves as Target mobile personnel, they get access to the locker which stores the phones, the suspect then walks to the back of the store, he gets out a duffel bag, he gets all the phones out of the locker, he places them in a duffel bag, Ortega said.

Ortega said the man was successful in thefts at the Target in Atlantic Station in Midtown and at the store in the Prado in Sandy Springs, and that employees didn’t realize that the phones were gone until he was long gone.

”Once the real Target Mobile employees arrived, they went to the locker and they realized it was empty, Ortega said. ”That’s when they reviewed security video and noticed someone had come earlier that day posing as a Target Mobile employee.

Detectives said the man attempted a third theft, but employees confronted him and he gave them the name of a district manager, which led them to believe that he has some connection to the big-box retailer.

”He either is a current or past employee from Target Mobile or has an accomplice that is a former or current employee, Ortega said.

Customers told Petchenik that they were astonished by the lengths to which the suspect went to steal.

”I think it was well thought, Anthony Strayho said.

Yvette Hill told Petchenik that she thinks it was an inside job.

”To have that kind of information and to get away with $50,000, she said. ”Something doesn’t seem right about it.