Crime & Safety

New York Men Charged with Swindling $44,000 From Apple Stores in Edina, Minnetonka

Eli Halabieh, Gozif Halabieh and Zouki Srugo are charged with theft by swindle after police say they got away with more than $44,000 worth of merchandise from Apple computer stores in the Twin Cities,

Three New York men have been charged with swindling and attempting to swindle Minnesota Apple computer stores out of more than $44,000 worth of merchandise, including stores in Edina and Minnetonka.

Eli Halabieh, 20; Gozif Halabieh, 21; and Zouki Srugo, 21, all of Brooklyn, N.Y., are each charged with theft of more than $35,000 by swindle, a felony with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaints, signed by Detective David Lindman of the Minnesota Financial Crimes Strike Force, officers learned that the Halabiehs and Srugo walked into the Apple store at Southdale Mall in Edina at about noon Aug. 10 and selected $20,974 worth of merchandise.

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The three men gave a clerk a Capital One credit card in Srugo’s name, and the employee checked Srugo’s identification. When the credit card was declined, Srugo made a telephone call, telling the clerk that he was contacting Capital One to find out why, according to the complaints.

Srugo handed over the phone to the Apple store employee, and the person on the other end gave the clerk a fictitious authorization code, which the clerk entered into the store’s computer system, the complaints charge. The purchase was completed and the three men left the store; the incident was captured on surveillance video.

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The three men went next to the Uptown Apple Store, where they went through the same series of events and walked away with $23,067 worth of merchandise, according to the complaints.

The Halabiehs and Srugo then drove to the Apple store at Ridgedale Mall in Minnetonka, but were not able to complete their scheme there, the complaints say. As they were heading back to their car, they were arrested; police found all the merchandise from the Minneapolis and Edina stores in their vehicle.

Srugo admitted to police that he had taken part in the swindle scheme and that he and the Halabiehs had come to Minnesota with a list of Apple stores in which they “knew their scheme would work,” the complaints charge.

According to the complaints, Srugo said they first attempted the swindle at the Apple store at the Mall of America, but were unable to complete the transaction. Srugo said the plan was to walk into an Apple store with a credit card with a $500 limit – one that was “obviously” going to be declined – then call a friend posing as a Capital One employee, who would provide a phony six-digit authorization code to the store clerk.

Both Eli and Gozif Halabieh subsequently admitted their involvement in the scheme, according to the complaints.

All three men remain in the Hennepin County Jail, Eli and Gozif Halabieh on separate $30,000 bonds and Srugo on a $10,000 bond. Omnibus hearings for Eli and Gozif Halabieh are scheduled Sept. 13 in Hennepin County District Court. Srugo was scheduled to make a first appearance on the charge this week.

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