this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2025
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Full textDallas Apple Stores kept losing product. Now a police officer is accused, affidavit says

DALLAS — Apple's security team noticed a trend over the last two years: Product kept disappearing from the stockrooms at the company's retail stores in Dallas.

In fact, the count variances at the Apple Stores at NorthPark, Knox Street and the Galleria were deemed "exceptionally high," among the top 10 of all Apple Stores in the company, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

The security team's investigation, the affidavit said, led them to a Dallas police officer.

Senior Cpl. Le Chau, who was arrested earlier this month, is accused of stealing $37,000 in merchandise while working off-duty overnight security at the Apple Stores, according to the affidavit, which was obtained by WFAA on Thursday.

The affidavit said Chau in March was seen on surveillance footage concealing items in his Dallas police jacket and then leaving the store with "fully loaded" duffels bags of product.

In another instance in March, the affidavit said, Chau was seen on surveillance footage climbing to a top shelf in a stock room and using a trash picker to grab items he couldn't reach. Among the items he took from the top shelf was a full box of AirPod Pros, the affidavit said. He tried to hide the AirPods in his police jacket and stuck the trash picker down his pants, according to the affidavit. The serial numbers from the box were later found in the trash in a restroom at the store, police said.

The affidavit detailed several other time in which Chau is accused of stealing from the Apple Store, including one night he allegedly stole more than $17,000 in product.

The investigation was initiated by Apple's security team after they noticed a series of missing products from stock rooms at Apple Stores in Dallas, including the Knox Street location and stores at NorthPark and the Galleria, the affidavit said.

Apple's security team reviewed surveillance footage and saw Chau "bringing backpacks and duffel bags into the store during his shifts," the affidavit said. He was then seen leaving the store with the bags "fully loaded," according to the affidavit.

The Apple security team then installed "covert cameras" that captured Chau stealing merchandise, the affidavit said.

The Apple security team also provided to police screenshots from Chau's wife's Facebook page, showing that she was selling Apple products through Facebook Marketplace, the affidavit said.

Chau has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation. Chau has worked for the Dallas Police Department since 2013 and was assigned to the department's Basic Academy, police officials said.

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[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

lmao, reminds me of this guy who worked security where I did. it was like a school, and the only valuables were some landscaping equipment so the security desk was inside at the only access door to the locked shed at night. the tiniest place in the world imaginable, middle of nowhere.

guy's second day he loads a bunch of trimmers in his car and leaves at the end of his shift. missing stuff is realized immediately because they're used every morning so they call the security guy and ask what happened. he claims no knowledge. so they call the one pawn shop inside of 50 miles and report the stolen items right as the security guy is walking in with them to sell. they were tagged with the school's info. like not some microchip, I mean written on in sharpee.

the guy was in his 50s and legit seemed to think he was a criminal mastermind that was not going to get caught, because he was capable of lying.

I think security jobs attract a certain type that has a profound amount of overlap with "total dumbass".

like even this story... I can imagine moving things to test for lapses in inventory management or control... coming up with a play for a big score (tripping the breaker, staging something, literally anything) but this guy just duffle bags out $17,000 of shit in a single night? and then comes back to work while his spouse fences it on ... Facebook marketplace?

some real Oceans 11 type shit lol.

[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

they call the one pawn shop inside of 50 miles...

Those bits to the crime stories are always my favorite parts. It's like a set-piece and the punchline is entirely predictable but you can't help laughing anyway as you think to yourself "How could they be so stupid and so lazy?"

it was a real moment. literally the time elapsed between equipment stolen and equipment recovered was under 5 hours.

at the start of the day I was like, "damn, that shit's gone... and the maintenance budget is fucked" and then like, we have it all back before I'm done eating lunch, after one lazy guy makes one phone call to another lazy guy to catch the dumbest guy in the county.

[–] WaterBowlSlime@lemmygrad.ml 19 points 1 day ago (2 children)

They had to install cameras to catch him, meaning that there weren't cameras before. Anyone with access to apple stock rooms better get to work asap before they up their security.

He probably knew where the regular cameras were since he was working security, this was probably new secret cameras corporate LP put in after it became obvious someone working security was stealing

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 4 points 1 day ago

The number one thing is to not be regular. One off here and there. Spaced out. Different locations. Be hard to pin down.

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 17 points 1 day ago
[–] plinky@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

very rare good cop spotted

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] plinky@hexbear.net 7 points 1 day ago

Off-dutiness grants a power many consider… unnatural

[–] LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I mean, ACAB because under liberal bourgeois democracy they exist to protect property rights. Here, however, the cop has abused his position in order to steal property from the bourgeois. Is he still a cop, or simply a man using the image of a cop to do crime? who knows

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago

He's a cop using that image to steal property from the bourgeoisie to personally benefit himself. Still not a good cop. You show me evidence that the vast majority of that money is being funneled to mutual aid and i'll reconsider.