Chicago Thieves Thought They Got Away With Stealing $1 Million, Cops Say. But an Apple AirTag Gave Them Away.

Two Chicago thieves have been arrested after allegedly robbing over $1 million from an armored car. Police say an Apple AirTag stashed inside one of the bags of money they stole led officers to the culprits.

According to the FBI, one of the suspects was charged with robbing another Brink’s truck in October 2022, but he went missing and was in fugitive status, court records show.

The latest alleged robbery occurred around 9:30 a.m. on May 2 outside a grocery store in Homewood, CWBChicago reported.

Officials said two guards stepped out of the Brink’s truck. One went to the bathroom and the other made a cash pickup at a bank branch inside the grocery store.

The guard exited the store with the bank’s money, which is when Darrel Singleton, 19, approached him from behind, pistol-whipped him and forced him inside the armored truck, authorities said.

Singleton then allegedly passed items from the truck to Devonte Davis, who was standing outside, according to police. Officials said they took ten deposit bags containing about $50,000 each and seven plastic bins containing about $100,000 each.

Placed inside one of those deposit bags was an Apple AirTag, which allowed investigators to track the bag to a house in Calumet Park.

Police surrounded the house and ordered everyone out, CWBChicago reported. Three people came out of the house: Davis, Davis’ girlfriend and another man, who was not named. Singleton was found hiding in the attic with a handgun next to him, officials said.

Investigators searched the house and located “hundreds of thousands of dollars” hidden in the basement ceiling and under the attic insulation, according to CWBChicago. They also found Brink’s keys, Brink’s documentation, Brink’s deposit slip and the Brink’s bar with an Apple AirTag in the basement.

Singleton allegedly admitted to cops about committing the robbery with Davis and said he picked up the co-defendant in Chicago that morning and then drove around until they saw the guard walk into the grocery store, police said, CWBChicago reported.

Davis initially told police he was at the house all day and two other people showed up with all the money. However, he later changed his story and saw he met up with Singleton after the robbery and drove around with him, hiding the money in different locations, officials said.

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In the October 2022 case, authorities said it took place on Halloween morning at an ATM outside Chase Bank in Lansing.

According to federal officials, Singleton, his brother and a minor confronted a Brink's courier while he was refilling the cash machine located near the drive-thru. During the heist, one of the robbers held a gun to the courier's head while the group stole $1,025,956 from both the machine and the armored truck, officials said.