A plot to rob a shipment of Apple’s newest iPad from a Best Buy store by employees was foiled when a deputy intercepted their plans.
Orange County sheriff’s office says 24-year-old Jasmin Roman and 26-year-old Juan Carlos Ortiz Valez bought guns, handcuffs, black clothes and other items to rob the Best Buy store near Orlando’s Florida Mall early on Thursday – the day before the official release of the new iPad.
The plot was foiled by a deputy patrolling the area in an unmarked vehicle.
Jasmin Roman: A pair of would-be robbers came fully armed with handcuffs, guns and masks, all for a million-dollar iPad heist.
The new Apple iPad was set to go on sale at the Best Buy store near Florida Mall on Friday, but the pair had different plans.
Sgt Robbie Zeller became suspicious after spotting a U-Haul truck and called for backup.
Roman, a Best Buy employee, was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit kidnapping with a gun.
Valez, a former store employee, was arrested on a count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping with a gun.
Sgt Zeller told WFTV.com: ‘I got to the back of Best Buy. The van was sitting in the middle of Morning Drive with its brake lights on … very suspicious.’
Detective Geoff Fahringer said of the planned million dollar heist: ‘They watched too many movies. To come out and see this this morning was a like a practical joke or April Fools.’
The pair had allegedly planned to hold the manager up at gunpoint, tie the other employees up and steal $1.3million worth of Apple merchandise.
Neither suspect has a criminal history.
