Retail Theft Crew Arrested Following Apple Store Robbery

A 'retail theft crew' has been arrested by the Ventura Police after stealing $18,000 worth of iPhones and MacBooks from the The Oaks Apple Store in Thousand Oaks, California.

The Ventura Country Sheriff's Office detailed the events leading up to the arrests in a release yesterday. Two of the suspects were detained by customers and the others were caught in a traffic stop.

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On August 19, 2018, at approximately 3:17 P.M., three suspects entered the Apple store located in the Oaks Mall. All three suspects were wearing hooded sweatshirts with the hoods up on their heads. Once inside, the three suspects proceeded to steal several Apple IPhones and Apple laptop computers totaling approximately $18,000.00. All three suspects ran out of the store, and in doing so, ran into a juvenile female customer causing her to fall to the ground. Other customers in the area tackled two of the suspects and detained them until Thousand Oaks Police Department Deputies arrived on scene. These two suspects were identified as Donte Sims of Antioch California and Timothy Terry also of Antioch California. The third suspect fled the mall and got into a waiting vehicle. Donte Sims and Timothy Terry were arrested for violating Penal Code section 459 – burglary and PC 182(a)(1) – criminal conspiracy.


At approximately 3:36 P.M., a Ventura County Sheriff patrol deputy observed a vehicle with three occupants traveling at a high rate of speed on eastbound State Route 118 in the City of Simi Valley and conducted a traffic stop. Upon contact, the patrol deputy identified the driver as Mona Benoit of Sacramento, passenger Tynisha Noel of Fresno, and passenger Edward Benton of Antioch. The patrol deputy ultimately arrested the driver for driving under influence of a controlled substance. A search of the vehicle resulted in the recovery of the Apple IPhones stolen from the Thousand Oaks Mall Apple store as well as Apple devices stolen during a burglary of an Apple store in Los Angeles County. Thousand Oaks Police Department Detectives identified this group as an Organized Retail Theft Crew and are conducting an investigation into this burglary as well as the burglary that occurred in Los Angeles County.
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