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Attention, computer-buying public of Florida: If a man approaches you in the parking lot of a Best Buy with a convoluted tale about needing money to get home and a strangely discounted iPad for sale, it’s almost certainly too good to be true.
A woman in Daytona Beach learned this the hard way after forking over $400 for what turned out to be a square piece of wood with a piece of glass taped on front. When police later nabbed the salesman — a Miami man with a long criminal record — they found several more low-tech Apple products in his car.
Last Friday, Daytona police pulled over a car while looking into a similar complaint about fake Apple products being sold in parking lots and inside they found 39-year-old Torrance Canady.
Canady has a long record in Miami, including a felony charge for trespassing that was filed in January. His other felony cases include aggravated assault, sexual assault on a minor, multiple counts of grand theft auto, stalking and burglary.
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By comparison, last week’s crimes seem almost quaint. After police booked Canady — who still had an outstanding warrant in Miami — they found a number of faux-Apples in the car.
A pair of MacBooks, pictured below, were made from wood covered in silver duct tape with an Apple logo carved out in the middle and a Best Buy price tag taped on back, according to police reports the Smoking Gun obtained. The iPads were also made of wood with a glass “screen” attached to the front.
Canady claimed he didn’t know the computers were fake and said he’d “bought them in St. Petersburg” for a girlfriend.
He’s charged with felony grand theft over the swindle.
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