On Feb. 26, the Glendale Police Dept. arrested 21-year-old Starly Santil of Miami, Florida, and 21-year-old Joshua Ramos of Passaic, New Jersey, for identity theft and grand theft, respectively.

Glendale police officers working at the Glendale Galleria and the adjacent Americana were alerted by Apple store employees that the suspects had been in other Apple stores in the Southern California area purchasing iPhones using the personal identifying information of other people. A detailed description of the suspects was given to the police and the officers decided to monitor the Apple stores in case the suspects decided to come to one of the stores.

At approximately 4 p.m., an officer saw Joshua Ramos enter the Apple store located in the Americana and, at approximately 6:30 p.m., the Apple store in the Glendale Galleria reported to police that Starly Santil was in their store. Both men were subsequently detained for the investigation of the fraudulently purchased iPhones.

During the investigation, the officers learned that both men had recently arrived in California and had visited multiple Apple stores to fraudulently purchase the phones. The officers were also able to learn the men had purchased phones in Florida, Georgia and Arizona throughout the past few weeks. Investigators are working with Apple to determine if the phones purchased in the other states were also purchased fraudulently.

Two other individuals were detained during the investigation, but were later released. Both are from the Bronx, New York and were traveling with Santil and Ramos.