Theft at Visionary by Mac Bandits

LAKEVILLE — The robbers who broke into Salisbury’s Visionary Computer appear to be part of a gang that specializes in breaking into Apple computer stores. 

Visionary was broken into at around 3 a.m. on Friday, July 6. Video surveillance footage shows two men wearing jumpsuits, with masks on their faces, smashing in the double-pane safety glass on the front entry door. 

They walked straight to the shop’s storeroom and grabbed products in closed and sealed Apple boxes, tossing them into a large plastic bin that they had brought with them.

They were in and out of the store in about two minutes.

David Maffucci, who is a co-owner of the business with his wife, Shelley, and the company’s president and director of technology, said he has been in communication with other Apple specialty shops along the East Coast that have also been hit. The surveillance footage from those shops indicates that there are different thieves but similar methods for each robbery.

Shelley Maffucci, who is the company’s director of operations, said the thieves“depleted the stock of everything” and exited the building in under two minutes, leading Maffucci to speculate that they knew “right where to go.” 

 David Maffucci said that no customer data was stolen and that the thieves seemed more interested in new products than in trying to access personal information from Visionary clients. 

While it has been less than a week since the break-in, Shelley Maffucci stressed that the store is fully operational. New computers can be ordered and delivered in just two or three days. 

Maffucci said he wants to learn from this incident. 

“We’re investigating technologies that can be used to prevent this kind of thing from being successful in the future.”

Meanwhile, the State Police at Troop B sent out a press release on Monday, July 9, asking all businesses and residences to check dumpsters and outdoor trash disposal areas for illegal dumping. 

If there is anything in your dumpster that you do not recognize, especially electronic equipment, boxes, clothes or tools, contact Det. Catherine Fawley at 860-626-1867.

The police are also seeking any videos made in the area in the hours between 2 and 4 a.m. on July 6.