Crooks snatch iPhone 7 cellphones from Metro PCS store in Deerfield Beach

Surveillance video catches crooks in act

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. – Deputies are searching for two crooks who snatched two cellphones from a Metro PCS store in Deerfield Beach.

The theft was reported about 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Surveillance video shows the men walking over to the iPhone 7 display, and one of them snatching a phone from the security wire.

The thieves turn to leave, but then turn right back around and go toward the display for more phones.

The store owner said one of the thieves was successful, but the other was not.

"Well, I was sitting in my office and I heard one of my employees yell," Jeff Young, who chased the crooks, said. "When you've never been robbed in 25 years, something like this is shocking."

Young owns the store at the corner of West Hillsboro Boulevard and Powerline Road.

"I worked my whole life to achieve what I got, and I probably, thinking about it in hindsight, I shouldn't have chased them, but it was just (a) reaction," he said.

Cameras caught Young darting out of the store after the two crooks.

"I pursued the driver, and just as he closed the door, I tried to break the window with my hand and forearm, but didn't do it," he said.

Young said he got a plate number, which he passed on to police.

He said the two thieves made off with two phones.

Young said the stolen phones and the damage to his display equipment will cost him thousands of dollars.

"I'm grateful none of my employees were hurt," Young said. "That's the main thing, right there, for sure."

Anyone with information about the identities of the thieves is asked to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.


About the Author:

Layron Livingston made the move from Ohio's Miami Valley to Miami, Florida, to join the Local 10 News team.