Police: Duo stole 280 iPhones worth $117K in NJ smash and grab

🚨NJ man arrested for theft, burglary

📱Duo stole 280 iPhones, police say

🚨Burglary was smash and grab style

A Passaic man has been accused of helping steal a massive amount of iPhones from an Essex County wholesale electronics store three months ago.

On April 18 around 2:24 a.m., Fairfield police were sent to investigate an alarm going off at United Tower Associates, which also operates as Digital World Shop, along Bloomfield Avenue.

Officers found the front glass door had been smashed.

More than 280 Apple iPhones were stolen, for a total value of more than $117,000, police said.

Security footage shared with police appeared to show two men get out of a gold minivan and use a hammer and a pry bar to gain access to the business.

The minivan was identified using Automated License Plate Readers in the area, which led to 28-year-old Carlos Brito as a suspect.

A warrant was issued and Brito was arrested on Friday. He has been charged with burglary, theft, possession of burglar tools, criminal mischief and two counts of conspiracy.

He was being held in Essex County Jail, pending a detention hearing.

Detectives were still working to identify the second man as of Thursday.

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