A passenger who placed a tracking device in her suitcase helped the Florida police capture a serial thief who stole at least $16,000 worth of luggage from passengers.
Last summer, flying on vacation included in many cases great heartache, besides the crowding at the airports, many luggages did not reach their destination. Because of this, a French tourist who came to the United States acted wisely and before leaving her house last month, the tourist placed an Airtag (an Apple coin-sized device that can send a real-time location to the iPhone) in her suitcase.
Indeed, when she landed in the US, the passenger discovered that she could not find her suitcase, which contained clothes, make-up products and other items worth approximately $1,600, she filed a complaint for lost baggage. Two weeks later, on July 31, the passenger contacted the investigators and said that she managed to locate the location of the Air Tag device that she had placed in the suitcase – on one of the streets of a town called Mary Esther, near the airport.
According to the police report, after the tourist’s complaint, another message was received from another tourist. He did report that his suitcase had reached its destination, but jewelry and other products with a total value of 15 thousand dollars that were in the suitcase disappeared. After the second complaint, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office officials cross-referenced the airtag locations received from the tourist with the addresses of airport employees in the area. From there, the police reached Giovanni De Luca, a 19-year-old contractor who worked in the baggage department of the airport. According to the report from the sheriff’s office, the officers confronted De Luca until he broke down and admitted that he had stolen the tourist’s suitcase.
The suspect did say that as soon as he recognized the Apple locator tag he destroyed it, but apparently it took him quite a while, because according to the tourist’s reports, she received a signal from the tag two weeks after she landed. The suspect also admitted to stealing the jewelry from the tourist’s suitcase that was finally found in his home. the suspect He was released on bail and is now awaiting trial.