His last grab, in a sleepy San Francisco neighborhood near the city’s coastline in May 2013, was a bust — in more ways than one. He thought he was going after an iPhone 5, Apple’s newest model at the time. He ended up with the iPhone 4, which fetches half the amount on the black market. The pull landed him a disappointing $100 and a trip to juvenile hall — his first time being caught for smartphone theft.
At the detention center, the staff wasn’t surprised by his crime. “When you get to booking, that’s one of the first things they ask you: ‘A cell phone, right?’ ” says Greg (not his real name).
Smartphones are a top choice for today’s street criminals, especially teenagers. In the 12 months ending in June 2013, nearly two-thirds of robberies by minors in San Francisco involved cellphones, according to the city’s public defender.
Government officials have called the trend an epidemic. One in 10 smartphone owners in the United States have had their phone stolen. More than 3 million were pilfered in 2013, nearly double the number nabbed the year before.
In tech-obsessed San Francisco, more than 65 percent of robberies in early 2014 involved mobile devices. Across the bay in Oakland, the number spiked to over 75 percent, according to California State Sen. Mark Leno, who proposed a bill requiring that smartphones include “kill switches.” In late August, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill, which will mandate that any smartphone sold in the state after July 2015 include the technology. The theft-deterrent software is designed to make stealing phones pointless by letting owners lock a lost device so no one can use it.
A last grab
Greg is tall but not imposing, with a sturdy build and a gentle handshake. That handshake is a surprise, given his preferred technique: quickly yanking the phone from a victim’s grasp instead of relying on the sleight of hand of pickpocketing.
When I first met Greg, he was dressed in a striped collared shirt, gray skinny tie, and black slacks. After our interview, he rushed off to his internship at a Bay Area company.
But in May 2013, Greg was in more desperate circumstances. He spotted his last mark standing on the sidewalk not far from where he lived. The woman was Asian, petite, and about 20 years old. She was standing in front of her van, talking on her phone.
“Yes, there are stereotypes,” Greg admits, sheepishly, after I ask him if he picked a certain “type” to rob. “You’re not going to want to try to take somebody’s phone if you think there might actually be a struggle.”
Greg had doubts before making the grab that day. He hadn’t been in trouble for 18 months, although he had two prior stints in juvie for noncriminal charges. There were a few violations here and there — remnants from falling in with the wrong crowd while growing up in a housing project. But he thought about his 9-month-old daughter. He didn’t have a job, and his mom had been diagnosed with cancer two months before. The family was squeezing every penny from her disability check.
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